Look What They're Doing With Unwanted Tires

Look What They're Doing with Unwanted Tires TIRES/WHEELS Miscellaneous 15-5-31 "We're confident we can build manure storage tanks, bunker silos and grain or machinery storage buildings for half the cost of conventional construction," says Jim Breen, co-partner of National Tire Compaction Service, Booneville, N.Y. Using a new tire compactor that corn-presses discarded car tires into bales, the firm proposes to turn "unwanted" scrap tires into low-cost building support blocks. Each bale of tires consists of about 20 tires placed side by side in the compactor's chamber. The compactor squeezes the 12-ft. long row of tires into a bale 30 in. high and secured with four strands of wire. These compacted bales of used tires, positioned vertically, are the heart of the firm 's revolutionary plan for recycling tires in a way that, according to Breen, "benefits everyone ù the public, the environment and livestock producers". Construction of the first bunker silo and manure storage tank built out of tire bales is slated to begin this fall. Meanwhile, the firm has put together cut-away models to show how their proposed structures will look. One model depicts a 540 ton bunker silo measuring 100 ft. long, 40 ft. wide and 8 ft. high. Its supporting structure (sides and bottom) consists of close to 3,000 tire bales, averaging about 20 tires each. All told, approximately 60,000 tires would be needed for the 540 ton silo. "Using compacted tire bales, we propose to construct this silo for about $6,000, including average site preparation, concrete, labor and all other costs. That's less than half the cost of a conventional structure," Breen points out. National Tire Compaction Service has received a state permit, allowing the firm to collect, for a fee, scrap tires from salvage yards, tire dealers, landfills and so forth. "A portion of this income derived from collecting scrap tires is shared with the farmer who, through his approved tire silo structure, provides an outlet for the tires we collect. He ends up with a silo costing less than half the going rate," Breen explains. He and his partners have other structures on the drawing board, including grain and machinery storage buildings, and manure collection tanks. "Farmers who've seen our cut-away model often ask what happens to the cornpacted bales if and when the wire ties should rust out and snap. No problem. The bales, after being compacted for a year or more, lose their memory and expand very little if the wires are cut." The patent pending recycled tire wall concept originated with New York dairy farmer Paul Clarke, of Camden. "We exhibited at the recent Empire Faam Show to conduct a market survey on how our revolutionary building concept would be received by farmers. We had excellent response," says Breen. "There is still a lot of work to be done to obtain the necessary permits and to prove the idea will work for the long term." For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, National Tire Compaction Service, 101 Charles St., Boonville, N.Y. 13309 (ph 315 942-6057).

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