News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

The Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (Redisa) – the main authority formerly responsible for scrap tire collection and recycling in the country – expressed its commitment to restoring its work after, earlier this year, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) upturned an order seeking shut down of the body issued two years ago. According to SCA judgment cited by Redisa, the now late ex-minister Edna Molewa reportedly began the court trial with an aim to eliminate the group using contradictions in order to get access to the recycling initiative’s assets.

British government commences consultations aimed at overhauling the waste system via reducing plastic contamination; the step encouraging recycling is expected to bring the island nation closer to circular economy. The consultations are likely to result in a more widely-used Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) not only for such waste as plastics, but for scrap tires as well.

Eighths Biennial Scrap Tire Conference organized by the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) and Scrap Tire Research and Education Foundation (STREF) will take place on December 4-5, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Greenville, South Carolina. The event will pay special attention to the subject of sustainability and circular economy, and will discuss how scrap tire market can carry out sustainable practices. During the conference, the participants who are involved in tire recycling industry will get a chance to take part in discussions dedicated to the new trends in circular economy practices, what challenges and opportunities may emerge on the scrap tire market. The presenters will talk about rubber modified asphalt, tire-derived fuel, as well as tire pyrolysis and devulcanization.

U.S. state of Texas that primarily turns ugly massive accumulations of waste tires into fuel, or applies them as rubber mulch for landscaping projects has seen the growth of its tire recycling rate of over 8 percent: while in 2015 the rate was slightly over 35 percent, in 2017 it increased to 44 percent.

The Government of Canada is providing repayable funds estimated at $326,250 for a new project that will assist the work of Tire Recycling Atlantic Canada Corporation (TRACC) and enable modernization and production growth at its Minto plant, Pat Finnigan, Member of Parliament for Miramichi-Grand Lake district announced late March.

Australian city Fremantle has become a pioneer that applied recycled rubber from scrap tires to develop footpath; and the city is not planning to stop and will keep on practicing the method in similar projects. The new footpath at the Thompson Road is similar in its content to a playground for kids (molded tiles and surfaces from crumb rubber). Moreover, it doesn’t restrict planting of trees along it.

50 million scrap tires are generated annually in the United Kingdom. The authorities are now looking for the ways to prevent the tires from ending up at landfills. Thus, their road surfacing potential is being actively studied. Oxford County Council is seriously considering an option of applying crumb rubber rubber and rubber powder from tires to repair functioning asphalt surfaces. Earlier, the officials have conducted the Paco Patch trial for road repair that involved approximately 250 surfaces repaired in a sustainable way. Up until now, only two of all tested asphalt mixtures failed to meet expected outcome.

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When we talk about products derived from tire recycling, we often imply crumb rubber or fine rubber powder. The former is the most common material, while the latter – one of the most expensive products of tire recycling. Yet there is another alternative, cheaper in value, but having promising market opportunities – tire-derived rubber mulch. Rubber mulch from scrap tires is produced in the initial stages of recycling process when input material is shredded several times and separated from steel wires. This yields a thin product of homogenous size, approximately 50 mm long which can be vastly used in landscaping. Below, we describe several ways of how tire-derived rubber mulch can be used.