On September 22nd in Westley, California, a bolt of lightning fell from the sky. Unfortunately for Westley, it smacked into the depths of an illegal dump of scrap tires – and the resulting fire blazed for an astonishing 34 days.

Not only did many of these 5 million tires release their abundant toxins into the air in the filthiest smoke imaginable, they also melted into an oil that ran into nearby rivers. An eco-catastrophe – but one that’s almost becoming commonplace.

Tire dumps are disasters waiting to happen – and yet, what else do you do with scrap tires?

The problem is the alchemy of vulcanizing: the altering of soft, malleable rubber until it’s tough enough to keep its shape. This process allowed the development of the modern automobile – but now that mixed blessing has turned into a full-blown curse.

Vulcanized rubber is tough. It’s very difficult to recycle effectively – yet California alone accumulates over 40 million reusable and waste tires every year.

Measures like the Tire Initiative Collaborative Effort can only tackle a small fraction of this whopping quantity. The millions that aren’t shredded and added to asphalt pile up on waste ground, waiting for lightning to strike (in every sense), like ecological time-bombs.

But science is at last coming up with a cost-effective answer. As GreenBiz reports, the Malaysian company Green Rubber has found a profitable way of “devulcanizing” rubber into a viable and truly recycled material – and Timberland are lining their shoes with the results.

Even better, Green Rubber shoe-soles are themselves recyclable. It’s the closest to a closed loop that we’ve seen with vulcanized rubber – and any company that finds a way to make a green profit from used car tires is looking at the motherlode of recyclable raw materials. (Let’s hope this decade’s nuisances become the next generation’s Klondikes).

Vulcanized tires continue to live up to their Roman namesake – but for how much longer?

Image: Manky Maxblack