Jun 8 2007
Retreaded tires are one of the most environmentally friendly of all recycled products, containing one of the highest post consumer contents since the actual tire is being recycled.
Every time a tire is retreaded there is one less tire to go to our already overcrowded landfills.
The oil savings with retreads is also very significant since tires are basically petrochemical products. It takes approximately 22 gallons of oil to manufacture one average size truck tire. Since most of that oil is found in the tire casing, which is re-used in the retreading process, only about 7 gallons of oil are needed to retread that same tire.
A fleet using as few as 100 tires a year can help save 1,500 gallons of oil annually. Thanks to the retread industry in North America, hundreds of millions of gallons of scarce oil are saved every year, which helps to reduce our dependence on imported oil.
The federal government is a strong proponent of retreaded tires and there is even a Federal Executive Order (13149) MANDATING the use of retreads on certain federal fleet vehicles.
With the “green” movement becoming more popular the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau (TRIB) hopes to see more companies put their money where their mouth is and – if they are not already using retreads on their vehicles – begin retreading their tires on a regular basis.
The safety, performance and handling of quality retreaded tires has been proven beyond doubt, which is why thousands of major fleets, including the U.S. Postal Service, Fed Ex, UPS, already routinely use retreads. But there are still too many fleets not committed to the use of retreads, and the hope is that they will reconsider their positions and begin doing their part to help conserve our scarce natural resources.
“Every major truck tire manufacturer’s tires are designed for multiple lives, and to not take advantage of that fact and not retread an expensive tire after the original tread is worn is simply silly and wasteful,” according to Harvey Brodsky, TRIB’s Managing Director. “It’s really ridiculous when one considers that the tire has one or more useful lives left,” he added.