Sustainable reuse of tyres in coastal engineering
A project examining the options for reusing rubber vehicle tyres in port, coastal and river engineering.
Documents
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Details
A European Commission Directive banned the disposal of whole tyres and tyre crumb to landfill sites by 2003 and 2006 respectively. This meant that alternative uses had to be found for the 26% of tyres disposed of in this way at that time.
This project:
- examined the options for re-using rubber vehicle tyres in port, coastal and river engineering
- investigated any technical, environmental and economic issues
- provided some detailed technical guidance
The project ran pilot projects using tyre bales in coastal and river engineering structures in Pevensey in Sussex (shingle bank retaining wall) and on the River Witham in Lincolnshire (embankment flood defence).
The guidance document includes chapters covering topics, such as:
- the reasoning behind reusing tyres
- the properties of tyres and tyre bale - how they’re processed and options for reusing them and reuse options
- case studies and possible applications in port, coastal and river environments
- information on how durable tyre bales are - how they should be monitored and maintained
- the environmental impact and risk assessment for using tyres
The outputs of this project will be useful for practising engineers interested in adopting whole tyres or tyre bales in their schemes.
This project ran from 2002 to 2005.