Environmental Health Implications of Heavy Metal Pollution from Car Tires

This paper reviews the potential for environmental pollution by heavy metals from the disposal of used car tires and describes laboratory work and field research exploring the magnitude of the problem. The metals considered here are cadmium, lead, and zinc; their respective mean concentrations for ten makes of tires used in the United Kingdom ranged from 0-3.0, 8.1-22.3, and 2524-6012 ppm. The metals were extracted from tires by simulated acid-rain solutions (pH 2.5); zinc concentrations of the leachate ranged from 169-463 ppm, but cadmium and lead concentrations were negligible. A significant increase in surface soil concentrations of all three metals was measured with increasing proximity to a tire dump in West London. The respective mean concentrations of cadmium, lead, and zinc in soil at the base of the dump were 22, 1160, and 1235 ppm, indicating contamination by each metal.