Use of Tires for Erosion Control
A tire bank has become a common method of shoring up waterways and preventing soil erosion. This provides a way of usefully recycling a troublesome waste product with minimal environmental impact. Tire banks are an effective substitute for sandbags, which will leak, break, and fall apart with age.
Verify the Law
Call your state's environmental protection agency to determine the law regarding use of whole tires for erosion control. Not all states permit this use of scrap tires.
Measure
Measure the surface area to be reinforced. Multiply the elevation by the length of the bank to arrive at the square footage. A single tire will cover about 2.5 square feet. Select tires that are whole and largely undamaged. Recycled tire reinforcement comes in various forms, each with its unique surface coverage.
Placement
Place tires from the bottom of the bank. Insert the bottom row a few inches into the soil and seat the tires horizontally. Make sure the tires remain in a horizontal position as each row is placed. Don't simply pile the tires up in a haphazard fashion. Eventually such a tire bank will collapse and cause serious environmental damage.
Tire Bales
If scrap tires are unavailable, use tire bales, which are compressed tires tied together with steel wire. This must be prepared and placed using heavy equipment such as a front-end loader.
Writer Bio
Founder/president of the innovative reference publisher The Archive LLC, Tom Streissguth has been a self-employed business owner, independent bookseller and freelance author in the school/library market. Holding a bachelor's degree from Yale, Streissguth has published more than 100 works of history, biography, current affairs and geography for young readers.
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