Delaware Sen. David B. McBride (D-13), Chair of the Senate Natural Resources & Environmental Control Committee, was accompanied by representatives from DNREC in hosting a special event this afternoon at a residential septic system installation site at the Village of Jefferson Roads, just south of Milford in Sussex County. The event showcased one of Delaware's first projects where chips from recycled tires will be substituted for stones in a septic system drainage field.
Sen. McBride said, "This is a significant project because it will incorporate the use of recycled tire products instead of stone material in the construction of a septic system and it is my hope that this will be the first of many." The problem of what to do with the millions of scrap tires that accumulate annually in Delaware is not a new issue. However, the development of potentially viable uses for its recycled end product is a relatively new concept.
Sen. McBride is currently working with a group of experts from a variety of interested groups including the Delaware Department of Natural Resources & Environmental Control (DNREC), the Delaware Department of Transportation (DelDOT), DSWA, the University of Delaware's Civil Engineering Department and Delaware Auto and Truck Recyclers Association.
Sen. McBride formed this working group to tackle this issue and to develop practical and widespread uses for recycled tire products.
DNREC has voiced its support for such initiatives and will continue to encourage the exploration of additional uses for this product while continuing to monitor and review each application, as it has done in its evaluation of septic system drain field use.
This past summer DNREC approved the use of tire chips as a substitute for aggregate that is normally used to construct the drain fields of septic systems. The approval followed extensive groundwater testing by DNREC's Division of Water Resources at two demonstration septic systems utilizing the tire chips.
John Hughes, secretary of DNREC, said, " Finding viable and valuable uses for recycled products is a challenge and I think we have come up with a winner here."
In concluding his remarks at the event, Sen. McBride added, "The scrap tire issue is a problem that will not go away on its own, and it's time that the State take a more proactive stance to address the related environmental issues which include landfill burden, mosquito breeding grounds, and potential fire hazards. This is an environmentally sensitive problem that impacts every state and we are working to not only reduce the total number of tires that end up in piles annually, but also to reduce the already existing scrap tire mountains found throughout the State."
Under DNREC's approval for use in septic systems, only tire chips from specific suppliers who have utilized a higher level of quality control and met minimum specifications established by DNREC can be used. Tire chips can only be used in standard gravity type, pressure dosed full depth and pressure dosed capping fill treatment and disposal systems. Several other states have also approved tire chips for use in the construction of septic systems.