Cemex has begun a program to use more than 25 million disposed used tires/y to replace natural additives in road surfacing mix to make "tirecrete" ("llancreto" in Spanish), local press reported.
Tirecrete is recommended for roads with light traffic and has a useful life of some 20 years.
The material was used for the second time in Tijuana in northern Mexico’s Baja California Norte state. The first road stretch to use this special concrete has already opened for traffic in San Pedro Garza Garc_a municipality, in Nuevo Le_n state.
Cemex already uses alternate energy sources such as discarded tires to fire its cement furnaces.
In all of Mexico, about 2% of tires are recycled, 2% are sent to waste management centers, 5% are renewed and put back into use, and 91% are illegally dumped, according to reports. Tire waste may take up to 500 years to degrade naturally.
