New research is driving at an environmentally friendly use of
scrap automobile tires beneath golf courses. A University of
Wisconsin (UW) engineer says the tires can be ground up into
chips and placed beneath greens to absorb fertilizers and
pesticides used to keep the greens, well, green. “Tires are a
waste material, and we need to have safe ways to dispose of
them,” says Jae Park, a UW professor of environmental
engineering. Park's work indicates that ground-up tires provide
a safe way to help prevent groundwater contamination. Sand-based
root zones, typically used for golf course putting greens and
athletic field construction, lack sufficient cation (an ion that
carries a positive electrical charge) exchange capacity to
restrict nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) migration through the
root zone and into subsurface drainage systems. Park, along with
colleagues John Stier and Robert Lisi, studied the absorptive
properties of tire rubber for retaining N and P when applied as
a distinct subsurface drainage or int