Why
Use Recycled Rubber Products?
Conserve vital energy and material resources
The energy required to produce a pound of virgin rubber is 15,700
BTUs, while that expended in the production of an equivalent amount
of recycled rubber is only 4,600 BTUs...a savings of over 70%!
Aid the nation's economy and environment
The disposal of the estimated 200 million tires that are discarded
annually is a costly problem of major proportion.
Reduce dependence on oversea sources of supply
Natural rubber, the product of latex gathered from tropical trees
and plants, accounts for a large quantity of the rubber raw materials
consumed annually in the U.S. But the largest quantity is synthetic
rubber, derived from petroleum (it takes half a barrel of crude oil
to produce the rubber in one large truck tire). While recycled rubber
makes up less than 4% of the total, many billions of pounds of rubber,
comprised mostly of automobile and truck tires, are discarded each
year.
The raw material sources of natural rubber, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand,
Sri Lanka, and Brazil, could, in years ahead, become uncertain or
even inaccessible to U.S. industry due to political and/or economic
reasons. And with the oil-producing countries exerting certain controls,
the future price and availability of synthetic rubber, which is derived
from petroleum, are open to serious question.
Provide reliable, top-quality products
Recycled rubber is found in a countless variety of industrial and
consumer products, tires, wheel chocks, mats, dock bumpers, die-cut
parts, fittings, and other obscure but essential components that are
not always readily visible to the naked eye.
In an era where energy conservation, materials availability, and solid
waste management are of such pressing concern to us all, it is imperative
that we have a better understanding of recycling and the value of
recycled products, such as those made from recycled tire rubber. |
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