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STOP BURNING JOBS AND OUR HEALTH! South African cement companies want to burn tyres as fuel for making cement - we must say no! "...there's no scientific basis for concluding that burning waste tyres in cement kilns is safe." (Dr. Seymour I. Schwartz, Professor of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis and author of the report "Domestic Markets for California's Used and Waste Tyres".) What is in tyres? ?• Natural rubber and synthetic rubber containing styrene and butadiene ?• Up to 17 different heavy metals (including lead, zinc, arsenic, and chromium) ?• Benzene-based extender oils and other petrochemicals ?• Carbon black ?• Chlorine What happens when tyres are burned? ?• The hazardous constituents are released into the air and create new, frequently more toxic, compounds. ?• Chlorinated materials produce dioxin. Dioxins are some of the most toxic chemicals known; damaging health effects include cancer, birth defects, and impaired child development. ?• Incomplete combustion of benzene leads to the creation of highly toxic dioxins, furans, PCB's (polychlorinated biphenyls), and PAH's (polyaromatic hydrocarbons) - all known to cause cancer or reproductive problems. ?• Metals are not destroyed at any temperature - 100% are emitted from the stack or concentrated in the cement product or in the waste material of the process. Lead is poisonous to the nervous system and known to cause learning disabilities; zinc can cause birth defects; chromium and arsenic can cause cancer. What's wrong with burning tyres in cement kilns? ?• Cement kilns are designed to make cement, not to be waste incinerators. Cement kilns are not equipped with secondary combustion chambers to assure complete destruction of wastes. ?• Cement kilns do not have to meet the same stringent standards of performance and the emission limits required of commercial incineration facilities. ?• Combustion recovers only a portion of the energy contained in a tyre; true recycling is much more energy efficient. Tyres are being truly recycled into rubberized asphalt roadbeds and other rubber products, such as new tyres. Scrap tyre shreds are being used successfully as drainage layers under roadways, fill for embankments and retaining walls, frost barriers, and more. What will be the economic impacts? ?• Studies are finding that indirect exposure to toxins through the food chain presents serious health risks to humans, even more serious than inhaling pollutants, which is already very unhealthy, and therefore increased healthcare costs for communities and government. ?• At least 75 different products can be made from scrap tyres (see list below) that our communities around the country can make to earn a living, and enter the economy. ?• Contaminated agricultural products, fish and game could threaten an area's economic vitality. ?• Property values for kilometres around cement factories could drop. ?• Cement companies may even import scrap tyres; our local communities and agricultural lands would receive the resulting pollution. ?• Toxic chemicals released by burning tyres at cement factories will become part of the food chain, entering water, soil, plants, livestock, dairy products, and wildlife. What's the point? ?• Burning tyres in cement kilns is not "recycling" or a sound disposal solution. Toxic by-products are created and dispersed to enter the food chain and our bodies. ?• Cement factories in other countries that are permitted to burn tyres and other wastes have been unable to consistently stay within emission limits. ?• Cement companies should not burn wastes to save on fuel costs at the expense of the surrounding communities. ?• Not a single operation in South Africa that burns waste today is run correctly. ?• South Africa must, as a signatory to the Stockholm Convention, REDUCE the production of Dioxins and Furans, which tyre burning increases. WASTE TYRES CAN BE USED TO MAKE ALL THESE JOB-CREATING PRODUCTS, ALL ACROSS OUR COUNTRY: Road and Rail Applications ?• Rubber modified bitumen ?• Hot mix bitumen ?• Reflective crack sealant ?• Waterproof membranes ?• Gap seals ?• Stress absorbing membranes ?• Acoustic barriers ?• Road base ?• Portable traffic control devices ?• Ripple strips and speed bumps ?• Rail crossings, sleepers and buffers ?• Roadside safety railing Construction & Industrial ?• Foundation material ?• Industrial flooring & footpaths ?• Anti-static computer mats ?• Acoustic barriers ?• Sprayed up roofing, insulation and waterproofing ?• Adhesive sealants ?• Mounting pads and shock absorbers ?• Membrane protection ?• Airfield runways ?• Shoe soles ?• Carpet underlay ?• Children's playground surfacing ?• Flexible foam ?• Rollers ?• Pond liners ?• Compression moulding compound ?• Extrusion compounding for rubber products ?• Injection moulding compound ?• Solid tyres for industrial equipment ?• Conveyor belts Packaging ?• Filler ?• Bags ?• Recycling bins Bulk Products & Mining ?• Filter for landfill leachate ponds ?• Erosion control landfills ?• Road base / stone replacement ?• Leachate pond liners ?• Oil spill absorber ?• Aggregate surfacing ?• Mulches and perma-mulches Automotive ?• Filler in new tyre manufacture ?• Tyre retreads ?• Solid and pneumatic tyres ?• Oil spill absorber ?• Floor mats, mud flaps, moulded protection strips ?• Special friction brakes ?• Car door and window seals ?• Segmented earthmoving tyres ?• Gaskets ?• Adhesive sealants ?• Sprayable sealant for automobile wheel housings ?• Vehicle bumper bars ?• Flooring for truck trays and tipper bodies Marine ?• Wharf buffers ?• floating docks ?• Non slip flooring Sporting ?• Flooring ?• Sporting fields, athletic tracks, tennis courts, etc ?• Gymnasium flooring and matting ?• Equestrian surfaces and workout areas Rural and Landscaping ?• Flooring ?• Turf and horse training tracks ?• Watering systems, rubber hosing & low pressure irrigation drip hoses ?• Agricultural pipes ?• Flower pots, wall hangers, pot plants ?• Animal bedding ?• Protective fencing ?• Sprayable linings for grain silos, storage tanks, etc ?• Tyres for agricultural machinery WHAT YOU CAN DO TO STOP THIS: Contact the Deputy Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Rejoice Mabhudafasi, on 012-310-3898 Fax: 012-320-1849, or email her personal assistant to complain about this matter, urging her not to allow the burning of tyres in any shape or form, and ask for a written response. This factsheet is produced by the Earthlife Africa Toxics Group in the interests of the health of our people and planet, and the re-direction of useful resources, from being used to increase profits and health problems, to creating sustainable jobs for our people. ?? |
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