Zinc in foliage downwind from a tire-burning power plant

Burning municipal solid waste (MSW) with coal in power plants is becoming more common. Since used tires comprise an appreciable percentage of NSW some power plants are burning chipped tires with coal.Since the rubber in tires may contain up to 5% by weight of zinc as an accelerator activator, possible emission of zinc from such a power plant was studied. Staghorn sumac foliage was collected at increasing distances downwind from the plant and total zinc was determined.