How to save the world one tire at a time

Not long ago, I had to get brand new winter tires to help me survive the treacherous Midwest winters. I personally always hate having to buy new tires due to the hassle of getting them and the price they cost for my late model sedan. Due to this little life experience, I became inspired to write my next blog submission since it really helps explain exactly where recycled rubber flooring originates from. It also helps explain exactly what happens to used car and truck tires after they have been replaced with some new rubber.

Up until about fifteen to twenty years ago, most used tires sat in landfills and would have sat there indefinitely since tires can take hundreds to thousands of years to decompose. This was a huge problem since land fill space was quickly being filled with used tires following the boom of the automobile. It also created another environmental problem where these huge tire dumps could catch fire and burn uncontrollably for days on end while releasing poisonous greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.


Example of a tire landfill

It wasn’t until around 1990 when the number of tires in landfills was approaching one billion tires that a rubber tire recycling industry began to develop. This recycled rubber tire industry has grown exponentially ever since and the number of tires currently in land fills has fallen to roughly 200-260 million tires today. This has not only helped the environment, but has also created new industries, new jobs, and new products.

Some of the new industries that have been born out of recycling rubber tires include recycling plants, rubber flooring and mat manufacturers, and retailers. Products that have been created using recycled rubber include, rolled rubber flooring and interlocking tiles for use in weight rooms and home gyms, rubber mulch used in bedding and playground areas, cryogenic crumb rubber used as infill in artificial turf fields, rubber base pads used in synthetic athletic surfaces, and even as Anti slip mats used in the transportation industry to prevent loads in from shifting during transport.

Too help prevent concrete roads from cracking during the constant expansion and contraction they experience in changing temperatures, another new product was also created called rubberized asphalt concrete. The last major use and perhaps largest recycled market for used rubber tires is as a fuel derivative which is used in cement kilns and by pulp and paper mills to manufacture paper products. And to all of you who were wondering what happened to the steel belts in tires, I am happy to tell you that during the recycling process in rubber tires, all the steel is separated out and recycled as well to help create a variety of new steel products including new steel belts for use in rubber tires.

Well I hope you enjoyed the brief history lesson about the recycled rubber tire market. If you have learned anything from this post, I hope it is that recycled rubber products are great for the environment.