Township open burning of used (scrap) tires and their health impacts

environmentconscios
Jul 2, 2020
2 min read

During winter when temperatures take a sharp turn and drop tremendously, it forces people on the streets to engage in detrimental practices. One of the dangerous practices is the common open burning of used car tires. This is not only dangerous to the people basking from the fire of the tire-burning but it is also dangerous to the people in the surrounding environment. What makes these practices, even more, harmful is the fact that black smoke that is irritant is emitted. This is a cause for concern especially in this period where the world is battling emerging severe acute respiratory illnesses such as COVID-19.

People burn these used tires as a form of generating a warm environment, trying to keep warm. This is common in townships in the evenings and those people who are homeless gather tires so that they can burn them during the night. Burning of tires is an activity that is supposed to be discouraged at all times. The following are reasons why they should never be burnt

Dangers to Public Health

Open tire fire emissions include “criteria” pollutants, such as particulates, carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur oxides (SOx), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). They also include “non-criteria” hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), such as polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dioxins, furans, hydrogen chloride, benzene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); and metals such as cadmium, nickel, zinc, mercury, chromium, and vanadium.

Both criteria and non-criteria pollutants can cause significant short and long term health effects. Depending on the length and degree of exposure, these health effects could include irritation of the skin, eyes, and mucous membranes, respiratory effects, central nervous system depression, and cancer. The EPA suggests that any unprotected exposure to these emissions be avoided. Furthermore, uncontrolled tire burning has been proven to be 16 times more mutagenic, meaning capable of inducing genetic mutation, than traditional residential wood combustion in a fireplace, and 13,000 times more mutagenic than coal-fired utility emissions with good combustion efficiency and add-on controls.

This may contribute to the number of children who are born disabled each and every year.

Environmental Pollution

The three main effects tire burning has on the environment is air, water, and soil pollution. The airborne pollution caused by tire-burning kilns is significant. The black fumes contain heavy metals and other harmful pollutants that linger in the air and can lead to acute to chronic health hazards.

In terms of water and soil pollution, according to the EPA, “for every million tires consumed by fire, about 55,000 gallons of runoff oil can pollute the environment unless contained and collected”. If uncontained, this runoff can then be carried away by rainwater to local water sources contaminating them. Additionally, the remaining residue can cause two types of pollution; these are immediate pollution by liquid decomposition products penetrating soil, and gradual pollution from leaching of ash and unburned residues following rainfall or other water entry.

Corrective measures

Instead of burning tires, we can rather reuse them to create other products. Recycling supports sustainability.