Scrap Tire News The Journey – 40th Year Anniversary

Scrap Tire News is 40 years old.  It’s been a long and short journey.

Long because there was no tire recycling industry when Scrap Tire News published its first issue. There were only a handful of companies, no instant ways to gather information, limited state and tire industry interest or involvement but clear evidence of accumulating tire piles, a growing rejection of tires in landfills and nagging concern about what to do with “these tires”.

Outlets for scrap tires or the materials derived from them, were few. Real markets didn’t exist.

Short, because today the tire and rubber recycling industry manages more than 300 million scrap tires in the U.S. and is a multi-billion-dollar global market. It’s face-paced, multifaceted, ever-changing with a nationwide infrastructure collecting, sorting, transporting, exporting, shredding, grinding tires of all sizes every day.

Scrap Tire News was born out of our commitment to provide news and information to the emerging tire and rubber recycling industry in a quality publication.

We grew with the times and so did the industry with their own commitment to extract quality and value from scrap tires, develop markets and grow.

The changes we’ve seen:

Early on, recognizing the energy value in tires, processors, equipment manufacturers and end users coalesced to make tire derived fuel (TDF) the first major outlet for scrap tires. Today, TDF remains a solid outlet for scrap tires with about 60 million tires used for fuel in the U.S

Others saw that shredded tire material had characteristics similar to conventional aggregate and tire derived aggregate (TDA) was born but struggled for recognition, acceptance and outlets.  Not so now.  TDA has an ASTM standard, is increasingly recognized as an engineered material, and is proving to be an important component for removing contaminants in stormwater. Most recently, TDA was tagged as a top use for scrap tires by the tire recycling industry.

The industry moved to manufacturing higher-value crumb rubber and other fine rubber as markets took interest. Challenged by the reluctance of virgin product manufacturers, developers and engineers to use a “recycled material”, crumb rubber markets grew slowly.  Crumb rubber processors continued to refine these materials to meet the demand for safer, cleaner, adaptable recycled rubber.  Today, driven by sustainability initiatives, investment in infrastructure and technological advances and a market focused on higher-grade recycled rubber for premium applications in rubber modified asphalt, molded products and turf infill, the crumb rubber market is rapidly expanding and poised for continued growth.

Rubber modified asphalt, labeled in its earliest days as “only works in warm climates”, has become the largest market influence in infrastructure and construction projects in the U.S. and around the world. Improved mixing technologies using the dry process, specification updates, lower cost, longer lifespan, reduced noise and environmental impact all contribute to its increased use. The new, industry-led Tire Recycling Foundation has named rubber modified its top market priority.

Pyrolysis in tire recycling has advanced from a niche method for recycling tires to a major technology able to produce high quality recovered carbon black (rCB) and tire derived oil (TDO).  Pyrolysis is now acknowledged as a key player in circular economies with modern advancements in continuous processing, improved energy, syngas reuse, reduced environmental impact and higher feedstock yields.

So here we are on the cusp of new growth for the tire recycling industry with limitless opportunities to recycle all the nation’s tires.

Once a disparate group of companies, the tire and rubber recycling industry is now a recognized contributor to the economy and quality of life, nationally and globally.

We’ve come a long way since 1986.

It’s been a remarkable journey.