It appears that Ash Grove Cement Company will be allowed to run a 60-day trial burning scrap tyres at its plant in Omaha, Nebraska. This follows a three-month research programme into the subject by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) which has led the Department to conclude: “It is DEQ’s initial determination that tires have been safely used as a fuel in cement kilns.” The burning of scrap tyres in cement kilns already takes place at 37 plants, spread over 22 other states. “Other states have determined that burning tires in cement kilns does not present an injury to or interference with the health and physical property of the people in their jurisdictions. We would expect that given proper monitoring and safeguards, the same would be true in Nebraska,” according to the NDEQ.
Ash Grove officials said the project would not be detrimental to the area’s air quality as well as reducing the state’s scrap tyre problem, which sizes up as 2m tyres annually, most of which are trucked to Kansas landfills.
According to NDEQ public information officer Brian McManus the agency will submit its formal recommendation in early June with department director Michael Linder likely to announce his decision in the subsequent fortnight.
