Getting rid of old tyres in an environmentally safe manner is not at all easy. Burning this type of waste, for example,� provokes the emission of noxious gases and particles into the atmosphere. And, as a result of the high price of burning them in high quality ovens to reduce emissions, tons and tons of tyres are abandoned in the country or stored in dumps every year. According to the Environment Ministry (MIMAM), this is the final destination of 82.8% of the 250,000 tons of out of use tyres generated annually in Spain.

Apart from the visual impact and the space that these piles of rubber take up, the partial chemical degradation suffered by the tyres (the degree depends on the storage conditions) converts the tyre cemeteries into highly unsafe places. Far worse is the environmental damage caused by the tyres that end up in the country or in uncontrolled dumps: genuine contamination spots. Equally bad is the waste involved in not taking advantage of a material that used up enormous amounts of energy to be manufactured: half a barrel of petrol is needed to manufacture the tyre of a lorry. The PNNFU 2001-2006, approved by the government in October 2001, attempts to stop the dumping of tyres once and for all by applying the three Rs of recycling: reduce, re-use and recycle.

Reduce
Given that our road safety depends on their condition, changing a used tyre for a new one is inevitable. However, tyres would last a whole lot longer if we regularly checked their pressure and alignment, and drove less aggressively. Accelerating from a standing start burning rubber or braking suddenly will wear down the tyres fast (their life varies from 35,000 to 40.000 kilometres). If the manufacturers incorporate new technology to make the tyres more durable, this type of waste could be reduced by 5% in just five years, according to the MIMAM.

Re-use
Re-using tyres has been possible for years thanks to retreading, a process that consists in substituting the old running tread for a new one. Retreaded tyres are similar in quality to new ones and cheaper. They are common in countries such as Denmark, Holland and Germany. Although this is an option that has never been to the liking of Spanish drivers and manufacturers have lately opted to make long-lasting, non-retreadable tyres, the PNNFU predicts that the official approval of retreading companies will increase the guarantees of this activity.

Recycle
The possibilities to recycle tyres are many and varied. Whole tyres are used to build artificial reefs, ports, reinforced slopes and walls. Once chopped up and granulated, tyre remains are used for such things as athletics tracks, roads or pavement coating; fitted carpets, footwear, brake shoes and sports garments. Roads that are made with recycled rubber additive are up to five times more resistant and more adhesive than those made without. And new uses for used tyres are being discovered every day. The Institute for Acoustics of the Coucil for Scientific Investigations (Instituto de Ac�stica del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cient�ficas, CSIC), for example, has developed a project to use recycled tyre to make acoustic screens.

New tyres use a maximum of 5% of recycled rubber, a quantity that could easily be increased to 30%, with the subsequent energy saving: to produce a kilo of virgin tyre you need nearly three times as much energy as that needed to produce a kilo of recycled rubber. To harness the energy contained in tyres you need to incinerate them to produce a special fuel called TDF (CND in Spanish). But this is an alternative that the PNNFU authorises only when other treatments are impossible.

- Spain generates some 250,000 tons a year of out of use tyres, of which only 1.5% is recycled. 11.1 % are retreaded; 4.6% are set aside for energy uses; and 82.8% end up being abandoned or dumped. According to the MIMAM, Spanish dumps are currently saturated with between three and five million tons of tyres.

- The PNNFU has as its objectives recycling at least 25% of tyres in weight and retreading 20% before 1 January 2007. From 1 January 2003 their elimination - dumping or incineration without energy recuperation - is banned.

- If the tread depth of your tyres is less than 1.6 millimetres, it is time to change them. When you remove the tyres, take them to a garage so that they can be sent on to a recycling plant, and choose retreadable tyres with a high volume of recycled rubber to replace them. I If this is not possible, choose long-life tyres because they consume less fuel.