Sustainability Studies Program, School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794-3352, USA.
Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, 11794-3352, USA.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2018 Apr;25(12):11376-11383. doi: 10.1007/s11356-018-1433-4. Epub 2018 Feb 8.
Solid waste management struggles with the sustainable disposal of used tires. One solution involves shredding used tires into crumb rubber and using the material as infill for artificial turf. However, crumb rubber contains hydrocarbons, organic compounds, and heavy metals, and it travels into the environment. Earthworms living in soil contaminated with virgin crumb rubber gained 14% less body weight than did earthworms living in uncontaminated soil, but the impact of aged crumb rubber on the earthworms is unknown. Since many athletic fields contain aged crumb rubber, we compared the body weight, survivorship, and longevity in heat and light stress for earthworms living in clean topsoil to those living in topsoil contaminated with aged crumb rubber. We also characterized levels of metals, nutrients, and micronutrients of both soil treatments and compared those to published values for soil contaminated with virgin crumb rubber. Consistent with earlier research, we found that contaminated soil did not inhibit microbial respiration rates. Aged crumb rubber, like new crumb rubber, had high levels of zinc. However, while exposure to aged crumb rubber did not reduce earthworm body weight as did exposure to new crumb rubber, exposure to aged crumb rubber reduced earthworm survival time during a stress test by a statistically significant 38 min (16.2%) relative to the survival time for worms that had lived in clean soil. Aged crumb rubber and new crumb rubber appear to pose similar toxic risks to earthworms. This study suggests an environmental cost associated with the current tire-recycling solution.
固体废物管理在可持续处理废旧轮胎方面面临困难。一种解决方案是将废旧轮胎粉碎成橡胶颗粒，并将该材料用作人造草皮的填充料。然而，橡胶颗粒中含有碳氢化合物、有机化合物和重金属，会进入环境。与生活在未受污染土壤中的蚯蚓相比，生活在受原始橡胶颗粒污染土壤中的蚯蚓体重减轻了 14%，但老化橡胶颗粒对蚯蚓的影响尚不清楚。由于许多运动场地都含有老化的橡胶颗粒，我们比较了生活在干净表土中的蚯蚓与生活在受老化橡胶颗粒污染的表土中的蚯蚓的体重、存活率和在高温和光照应激下的寿命。我们还对两种土壤处理方法中的金属、营养物和微量元素水平进行了描述，并将其与已发表的受原始橡胶颗粒污染土壤的值进行了比较。与早期的研究一致，我们发现污染土壤并没有抑制微生物的呼吸速率。与新的橡胶颗粒一样，老化的橡胶颗粒中锌的含量也很高。然而，尽管暴露于老化的橡胶颗粒并没有像暴露于新的橡胶颗粒那样降低蚯蚓的体重，但与生活在干净土壤中的蚯蚓相比，暴露于老化的橡胶颗粒会使蚯蚓在应激测试中的存活时间减少 38 分钟（16.2%），这一结果具有统计学意义。老化的橡胶颗粒和新的橡胶颗粒似乎对蚯蚓造成了类似的毒性风险。这项研究表明，当前的轮胎回收解决方案带来了环境成本。
