Golf courses use massive amounts of water to maintain lush, verdant fairways. Even those areas with the highest annual rainfall require artificial irrigation. The Rain Trap System, in addition to eliminating scrap tires, will save golf courses between 10% to 70% of their normal irrigation output. In water deficient areas, water preservation has become a major priority for golf courses and the public in general. The cost of obtaining and pumping water is especially high in these areas. Without added construction costs, the Rain Trap System recycles otherwise wasted rainwater to substantially reduce pumped water costs.
The fertilization of golf courses has become an increasingly regulated process because of the serious environmental consequences of excess fertilizers seeping into groundwater. Legislation throughout the country has established specific mitigation requirements for golf courses based on groundwater levels. With a Rain Trap System installed, golf courses can easily meet these requirements because the tires act as a barrier between fertilizers and the groundwater below.
Moreover, because of their chemical sophistication, fertilizers are an expensive part of golf course maintenance. The Rain Trap System will not only protect groundwater; it will also reduce the amount and frequency of fertilizer application. In an average golf course, fertilizers percolate beyond reach of the turfgrass root hairs. The Rain Trap System preserves a significant amount of the original application by preventing percolation and loss to groundwater. The "blooming" action of the system then replenishes the grass with a secondary application. The process is repeated until almost 100% of the fertilizers is absorbed by the turfgrass roots. Along with achieving mitigation requirements with relative ease, a golf course that employs the Rain Trap System will have a significant economic advantage, beyond water savings, over conventional courses unequipped with this technology.
Eliminating the nation's mounting scrap tire problem is the most important environmental solution the Rain Trap System offers and it directly impacts the general public. While benefiting the golf course developer, as described above, the environmental impact of this civil engineering application has broader parameters requiring an appropriate analysis.
Each year, over 250 million tires are discarded in the United States. About 40% of these tires are reused, retreaded, burned for fuel, or used in civil engineering applications. The remaining 60% (150 million tires) must be stockpiled or placed in landfills. The average 18 hole golf course occupies 150 acres. The Rain Trap System is installed in fairways and rough areas to cover 88 acres and consumes 1,231,166 tires per course. If the Rain Trap System is used in only 122 courses (32% of the 381 courses built in 1994), we will effectively make use of every available scrap tire in America.
The environmental problems presented by stockpiles and landfills with regard to scrap tires are staggering. Stockpiles act as giant solar panels, absorbing light and retaining heat. Unfortunately, these mounds of rubber do not have an outlet for this energy and as a consequence, become extremely dangerous fire hazards. Unlike trees, grass, and other such natural fuels, tires, when burned, release thick, black clouds of pollution into the air. Burning rubber, in addition to filling the air with particulants, emits a horrible odor that can spread miles away from the fire itself.
Stockpiled tires also collect water which, after months of stagnation, becomes a colossal breeding ground for mosquitoes, rodents, and bacteria. Because of their unusual configuration and large population, tires placed in stockpiles are virtually impossible to protect from larvae and bacterial infestation.
For the above reasons, it is obvious that stockpiles are an inefficient, hazardous means of solid waste disposal that offer only temporary convenience and can lead to environmental disaster.
Landfills present a different kind of problem, but are equally inefficient in terms of offering a viable place for scrap tire disposal. As landfills reach full capacity, they are covered with soil and then compressed. Disposed tires are loaded like the springs in a mattress by the immense packing weight of the above soil. As time passes, these rubber springs accumulate methane gas, unload, and gradually break through the surface of the once invisible landfill. Landfills are clearly not an acceptable way to dispose of scrap tires. Even when tires are split or cut into pieces, the economic expense of such procedures makes landfilling an entirely wasteful means of disposal.
As the scrap tire industry grows, and as its concern for new markets expands, the Scrap Tire Management Council has made several shifts of emphasis in an attempt to find an economically viable use for scrap tires.
One of the Council's first thrusts, in seeing an effective solution, concentrated on Tire Derived Fuel (TDF). Ground rubber can be burned instead of coal, or gas to generate electricity. Several successful partnerships have been established, including an extensive joint venture between Illinois Power & Waste Recovery Inc. This project makes use of 1-inch tire chips to produce 5% of the total power generated by Illinois Power. The cost per million BTU for TDF was between $.25 and $.75 compared to $2.00 for an equal amount of gas fueled electricity. But these costs are based upon generous subsidies from the State of Illinois. Without substantial subsidies, this venture would cease to exist because it would be entirely inefficient. Economic feasibility aside, TDF used for electricity (because 100% pure samples are unattainable) produces an inconsistent product that must be heavily monitored by plant supervisors. The Illinois project demonstrates a positive application for scrap tires, but cannot offer a truly viable, long-term solution because TDF depends so heavily upon governmental support.
In addition, TDF makes use of only 60% of each tire. The remaining 40% must again be stockpiled or put into landfills. TDF requires that the chip size be 1-inch square in order that the fuel can pass smoothly through the combustion chambers. The cost of grinding tires to this small size is very high because the equipment itself is very expensive and requires extensive maintenance over time.
Consequently, the Scrap Tire Management Council shifted its thrust to include cement kilns as a viable use of disposed tires. This method is highly successful, as the tires are burned at extreme temperatures (about 3000 degrees F), virtually eliminating the emissions which burning tires can produce. In fact, TDF used in cement kilns actually reduced the percentage of sulfur emissions from a Holnam Incorporated cement factory in Seattle, Washington. Again, however, these projects are not entirely market driven and rely upon government subsidies for support. The results show that TDF used in cement kilns helps reduce emissions and produces a high quality product, but at this point, these benefits do not eclipse the net cost of implementation.
The Council's next point of emphasis was the use of scrap tires in asphalt. The goal was to create a more pliable surface that would perform better than traditional asphalt. After three years of research, however, the Ohio Department of Transportation has found no significant performance difference in rubberized asphalt over conventional asphalt pavement. At a cost of 2.4 times that of conventional asphalt, rubberized asphalt is clearly not a viable economic solution.
The Council has most recently emphasized civil engineering applications for scrap tires. Crumb rubber has been used to fill embankments, help drainage in muddy areas and supplement soil in sporting fields. These applications have achieved some success but again, their economic feasibility has been questioned. Crumb rubber is an expensive commodity that requires elaborate machinery. The cost of implementation significantly outweighs the benefits of use and, while road construction and embankment filling have achieved modest success, crumb rubber has yet to establish itself as a marketable civil engineering technique. Its application is limited to specific areas and in general, presents a weak argument for economic feasibility.
The Rain Trap System offers a comprehensive solution to a major solid waste problem by combining economic feasibility with environmental responsibility. Past uses of scrap tires, though genuine in their motives, have generally been unjustified economically and have demonstrated the need for true marketability. The Rain Trap System not only justifies its costs, it actually increases profitability. This is a remarkable change that has arrived at a time when the Scrap Tire Management Council is looking for a new market and solution for a major environmental problem.
By slitting tires, instead of crumbing them, our development is highly efficient. We can use 100% of the tire and do so with little expense. Our machinery is very simple and easy to maintain. Because those areas which are zoned for solid waste disposal are also zoned for golf course development, the cost of transporting tires to selected construction sites will not exceed existing costs. Because the tipping fees for scrap tires are, in most cases, higher than our cost of slitting and embedding, the construction itself is made profitable. In addition, the economic benefits to the golf course (water and fertilizer savings) once the system is installed, will be significant. Spending less time and money on maintenance, golf course owners will automatically experience an increase in profitability.
Obviously, scrap tire disposal is a major environmental problem in this country and throughout the world. By offering an economic incentive to the equation, Tire Farms can quite literally solve this problem while making a profit, and see its golf course partners profit as well. This partnership is the answer environmental groups everywhere are seeking and one we can offer now.
Jesse Odell The Ford Odell Group Information call (707) 576.8149 e-mail: odell@sonic.net