America drives, works, and plays on recycled rubber
(Washington, DC) – The Institute of Scrap Recycling
Industries (ISRI) today launched a new website, RecycledRubberFacts.org,
highlighting the various benefits of recycled rubber. The website will serve as
a visual and educational resource on the vital yet largely unseen role recycled
rubber plays in our lives, providing society with environmental and economic
benefits.
“America drives, works, and
plays on recycled rubber. It is all around us and has been enhancing everyday
life for hundreds of years,” said Robin Wiener, president of ISRI. “The many
benefits of recycled rubber, however, are often overlooked.
RecycledRubberFacts.org will help educate people on these benefits and allow
for informed conversations.”
Key facts of note include the following:
- Recycling
just four tires reduces CO2 by about 323 pounds, which is equivalent to 18
gallons of gasoline.
- U.S. scrap
rubber manufacturers recycle 110 million tires annually – or one tire for
every three people in the U.S.
- Tires that
otherwise may have gone to landfills are recycled into shock-absorbing
playground surfaces, lower-impact hospital floors, higher yield vegetation
mats for farming, and more.
- Using
recycled rubber in molded products creates a substantially smaller (by a
factor of up to 20 times) carbon footprint as compared to using virgin
plastic resins.
- The rubber
recycling industry generates more than $1.6 billion in economic activity
across the U.S. and accounts for nearly 8,000 jobs (direct and indirect).
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About ISRI
The Institute of
Scrap Recycling Industries, Inc. (ISRI) is the Voice of the Recycling
Industry™. ISRI represents more than 1,600 companies in 21 chapters nationwide
that process, broker and industrially consume scrap commodities, including
metals, paper, plastics, glass, rubber, electronics and textiles. With
headquarters in Washington, DC, the Institute provides safety, education,
advocacy, and compliance training, and promotes public awareness of the vital
role recycling plays in the U.S. economy, global trade, the environment and
sustainable development.