My kids love the first opportunity of the season to kick off their shoes, peel off their socks, and run around outside with bare feet. I admit, my toes appreciate a little dirt in between them now and then, too, but more and more these days, I am wondering about what lies beneath. Not so much in my own yard, but at my neighbors and at the park and the playground. I’ve worried about pesticides for years now, but recently a new concern has arisen. It all started when I noticed a big truck dumping new ground covering around my daughter’s school playground. What the heck was it?

After school I followed her back to the playground and smelled its acrid odor before I saw it (my nose is my initial alarm system for toxic intruders and in this case, the bells were ringing loudly). As we stepped closer I saw that the ground covering was a loose fill of what appeared to be shredded tires. Wait a minute, I thought to myself, aren’t tires considered hazardous waste? Isn’t that why we can’t just toss them in the garbage? Why are we using these where our kids play?

This definitely warranted an eco-mom investigation and what I discovered was confusing to say the least.

The Tale of the Tire

Apparently, tires have been a solid waste issue for many decades now and with an increasing amount of vehicles on the road, the issue continues to grow. At the end of 2003 alone, the US had generated close to 300 million scrap tires. Without government intervention regulating disposal, tires were left to pile up creating breeding grounds for mosquitoes and spontaneously igniting into toxic bonfires. They aren’t, as I had initially assumed, hazardous waste. They only necessitate special disposal to avoid the accumulation of tires that prompts the aforementioned breeding grounds and toxic fires.

Fortunately, markets now exist for 80% of scrap tires-up from 17% in 1990. These markets - both recycling and beneficial use - continue to grow. Almost half of the tires are burned for fuel, another 20 percent are used in civil engineering projects, about 8 percent is ground up and recycled into other products and about 4 percent is ground up and used in rubber-modified asphalt. The remainder are exported, retreaded, used “miscellaneously”, or land-filled.

Many of these applications are indeed a beneficial second life for a product so integral to modern life. Still, I questioned the physical make-up of tires and the initial research I was finding demonstrating toxic chemicals and heavy metals leaching out of tires. Studies basically show the levels to be minimal, but the mom and environmental health advocate in me always questions “safe levels.” If there’s a safer alternative, why accept even a “minimal” risk? I am a huge proponent of recycling, but why are we using a potentially risky material where our children play?

A Second Life: Tires as Turf for Athletic Fields and Playgrounds

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