Natural rubber is widely considered a more eco-friendly and better product than synthetic rubber, but it still presents some issues. Natural rubber contributes to deforestation, biodiversity loss, pollution, and more. But climate change and disease also threaten natural rubber.
Synthetic rubber poses threats of its own. The main one is that it's usually made from crude oil, which is non-renewable, non-biodegradable, and releases harmful chemicals into the environment.
Rubber is durable, and more eco-friendly than plastic. It lasts longer, and stands up better against heat and cold than plastics.
Natural rubber is made from plants, so it is biodegradable. But since synthetic rubber uses man-made polymers derived from petroleum, these ingredients will persist in the natural environment and be a source of pollution after the item breaks down.
For example, research has shown that natural rubber can biodegrade in soil and water environments, particularly when exposed to heat, light, and oxygen. On the other hand, synthetic rubber is more resistant to biodegradation and may take much longer to break down.
Vinyl is not only an effective and green alternative to rubber, it is also inexpensive. The synthetic process uses simple chemicals and can be cooked up in the lab cheaply. Vinyl can also be recycled making it more environmentally responsible.
Most rubber products are classified as non-hazardous materials and therefore would be non-hazardous waste.
To answer the question of how long it takes rubber to biodegrade, the answer is anywhere between ten to hundreds of years. Even made from natural resources, rubber is not easily biodegradable, so it does not break down fast because of the manufacturing process.
To recycle the rubber, it first needs to be cleaned and then made into a smaller, more manageable size. The rubber is then placed into a granulator and transformed into crumb rubber – small fragmented pieces of rubber – to be used elsewhere.
Rubber is a natural polymer obtained by tropical plants. Thus, It is not a fossil fuel.
EPDM sheets can be recycled after use for things such as the rubber mats used in children's playgrounds or used as fuel to help reduce dependency on fossil fuels. EPDM rubber is the choice for the environmentally conscious.
similarly, species of fungi like Actinomycetes, Streptomyces, Nocardia, Actinoplanes have the ability to decompose rubber from garbage.
However, natural rubber isn't as effective at resisting heat, light and ozone as other rubbers like neoprene. The material also varies with the tree it's produced from, as well as containing natural impurities.
One of the biggest limitations of natural rubber is its poor resistance to hydrocarbons, fats, oils, and greases. Contact with these substances can cause swelling, softening, or complete dissolution of the rubber part resulting in partial or complete failure.
Therefore, vulcanized rubber as an elastic, insoluble, and infusible thermoset material cannot be directly reprocessed. This is an important limitation for material recycling, especially after the end of life of a part.
Once a part is cured, it cannot be melted down and recycled into a new part in the same way as plastics can be, and that is why rubber is often a big problem when it comes to the end of its service life.
The rubber recycling industry turns waste rubber products into usable material, that can be applied to make new rubber products. Waste rubber can also be turned into fuel.
For example, the strength and flexibility of rubber may change. It may become brittle, hard, or cracked, or it may soften and become spongy, or sticky. Plastics may lose strength, and, at the same time, become brittle, crack and shrink with age.
The biodegradation of rubber is a slow process; therefore, it requires long incubation periods (i.e. from some weeks to months) to allow the biomass growth and significative modifications on the rubber mass/structure (Ali Shah et al., 2013).
Natural rubber is biodegradable. Natural rubber decomposes in well-aerated moist soils over a period of at least one year. Synthetic rubber cannot be used as fuel because it contains additives that might react with oxygen during burning. It can however, be burned safely to dispose of it in controlled conditions.
Also, manufacturers add chemicals during production, slowing down the decomposition process. Synthetic rubbers contain synthetic substances that make them non-biodegradable. Overall, rubber can take several years to decompose in the environment. This leads to accumulated waste in landfills and oceans.
Dry waste consists of paper, glass, thermocol, Styrofoam, rubber, metal, cloth, empty bottles, stationeries, etc.
Workers in the tire and rubber industry have an increased risk of cancers (such as lung, bladder, and stomach) from occupational exposure to carcinogens. Rubber product manufacturing puts workers at risk of breathing in hazardous dust and chemical fumes.
The EPA has identified rubber tire manufacturing facilities as major sources of hazardous air pollutants (HAP) emissions.