News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

Almost two decades ago TRA launched a unique audit initiative to rate its members ‘better than the rest’. Dubbed the Responsible Recycler Scheme, this audit programme aimed to provide the wider tyre industry, its regulators and the wider public with an assurance that TRA member companies complied with, and where appropriate, exceeded regulatory and best practice norms. Over the ensuing years, member audit scores have achieved very high levels of compliance leading the association to raise the bar even further particularly in areas of ‘best practice’. TRA reports that these new standards will be phased-in during the course of 2020 and will encompass new requirements for data validation, permit compliance and end-destination waste tyre tracking.

The global scrap tire problem has urged a number of business and researchers to seek advancement of circular economy. One of the global institutions that showed their concern with the issue is the Australian Road Research Board. It assessed on what level the sustainability is right now, and it looked at uptake of innovative recycled materials, including end-of-life rubber materials, in roads.

The event will become a perfect platform uniting tire and rubber industry professionals from all over the world. Experts representing all layers of the industry, as well as state authorities and scholars will share their perspectives on the state of affairs for tire recycling. They will also shed light on sustainability and what drives producers towards circular economy models, touch upon topics of tire-derived fuel, tire-derived aggregate, rubberized asphalt, ensuring safety at tire recycling plants, etc.

PROs collaborate with service providers on behalf of tire manufactures. They manage collection and recovery of scrap tires, and can help with research and development. eTracks, incorporated by the Tire and Rubber Association of Canada (TRAC), is one of the PROs functioning in Ontario and it’s responsible for 80 percent of collection and recovery obligations. Ontario now tends to view end-of-life tires mostly as resources rather than waste as it’s possible to process them and get valuable products such as crumb rubber, ground rubber, modified asphalt, gravel substitute. In addition, recycled products can be then used for construction projects, or in paving flooring and so much more.

The 10th Kuwait Waste Management Conference & Exhibition initially scheduled for March 11-12 will be rescheduled for June 9-10, 2020. The event will be devoted to solid waste management, including end-of-life tire recycling, in GCC countries, and will be held on March 11-12 in Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel in Kuwait.

This year speakers will discuss problems that challenge scrap tire control and management companies. However, it will also be of interest to enterprises involved in development of tire-derived products in California. The conference will be held at the Holiday Inn Sacramento Downtown Arena in Sacramento, CA. Prospective attendees are now welcome to register for the event. It will become a perfect place for networking and education about scrap tire industry trends in recycling and sustainability, retreading, end-of-life tire management and design of tire-derived products; also, it will shed light on market opportunities that exist in the United States at the moment.

Liberty Tire Recycling, a big tire recycling company headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, United States has presented a new dry-mix rubber additive labelled SmartMIX that can boost asphalt paving. The producer claims it can result in longer asphalt service and, durability and crack resistance. The product fully relies on scrap tires and does not require liquid modifiers. According to the manufacturer, all necessary tests have been already conducted to prove the quality of the product and start commercializing it.

ShredderTire claims that its rooftop assembly and blocks that are produced under the label Echo-System significantly alter the industry as they can substitute lumber blocking. The company says that their products, Echo Blocks, are more environment-friendly as they rely on recycled scrap tires. The products made from recycled tires compete with wood and can be installed much faster and easier, according to ShreddedTire.

Peru has presented a sustainable female fashion shoe brand that relies on recycled end-of-life tire rubber. The company is called EstoyEco (“I’m Eco” in English). Jesselyn Campomanes, CEO and co-founder of EstoyEco commented on the process of shoe making saying that scrap tires are treated during 2 phases – these moves are needed to make soles of the footwear. She noted that normally recyclers deliver scrap tires to the brand’s facility where the end-of-life materials are selected and washed. Tires also undergo process of cutting and tread separation and then plates of shoe soles are manufactured.