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Recycled Tires Could Filter Water

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the mmmmmm-tastes-like-firestone dept.

MattSparkes writes "According to New Scientist, water could be cleansed and filtered more easily and cheaply by using old tires. From the article: 'Rubber tires, the kind that lie at the bottom of rivers and at the back of junkyards the world over, could be ideal water filters says an environmental engineer at Penn State University in the US.'"

2 of 112 comments (clear)

  1. like tires as reef? by Speare · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There was a case where someone had the bright idea of dumping tires over a huge area of open sea, to offer marine habitat. Years and years later, the barnacles and coral organisms haven't adopted this habitat, because the tide keeps pushing the tires around, unlike heavier debris. It's an eco-disaster, worse than nothing, essentially.

    They're finally getting around to hauling them up, but volunteer effort can only go after a few tires at a time, with tens of thousands or millions of tires to go. Maybe if there was a clear use for all the tires, they could get some funds to lift the old "reef" up and use it for a different, and this time beneficial, marine-related purpose.

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  2. What about rubber allergies? by jimlintott · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My first concern is that I am quite allergic to cyclohexylthiophthalimide (CTP) a chemical used in vulcanizing rubber. Yes, I am allergic to car tires. Makes me very, very ill. While I don't get sick in normal traffic I get sick at the drag races from the burnouts and I can't spend more than 30 minutes in a tire shop.

    Whether water filtered through tires would bother me or not I don't know but it should be checked into first.