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Recycling Solid Wastes 163
TABLE 6.13 Continued

Athletic Surfaces
Running tracks
Golf tee-off areas
Kindergarten playgrounds and recreation areas
Nonslip boat dock surfaces
School sports areas
Swimming pool borders
Walkways and garden paths
Tennis and basketball courts
Adapted from: Rubberecycle, 2001. Reproduced with kind permission of Rubberecycle.

TABLE 6.14
Industries using Retreaded Tires
Eighty percent of the tires used by the commercial aviation industry are retreaded tires
Nearly 100% of off-road, heavy-duty vehicles
School buses and municipal vehicles
Trucking fleets and overnight delivery vehicles
Taxi fleets, race cars, and industrial vehicles
Fire trucks and other emergency vehicles
Farm tractors and other agricultural equipment
Millions of passenger cars
Federal and military vehicles, including those operated by the U. S. Postal Service, use
retreaded passenger, truck, and aircraft tires
Source: Tire Retread Information Bureau, 2002. Reproduced with kind permission.

percentage of which are owned and operated by independent small businesses. The remaining plants
are owned and operated by new tire manufacturers and a major tread rubber supplier (TRIB, 2002).
Approximately 70% of the cost of a new tire is in the tire body. Retreaded tires can be driven
at the same legal speeds as comparable new tires with no loss in safety or performance. Retreaded
truck tires are manufactured according to rigorous industry-recommended practices. Commercial
aircraft retreads are approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. Retreaded passenger car tires
are manufactured according to federal safety standards developed by the U.S. Department of
Transportation.
Steel-belted radials are routinely retreaded and are available with all types of tread patterns.
Retreading greatly reduces solid waste disposal problems and conserves hundreds of millions of
barrels of petroleum every year. Truck tires can often be retreaded several times (TRIB, 2002).
Despite the fact that alternative uses for scrap tires exist, it is estimated that roughly 500 mil-
lion scrap tires were lying in stockpiles as of 1998 (U.S. EPA, 1999b). To further alleviate the
scrap tire problem, more actions must be taken up the product chain. Beyond recycling, work is
in progress by some tire manufacturers to increase the recycled content of new tires they manu-
facture to reduce the use of virgin materials and, at the same time, provide a significant end mar-
ket for scrap tires. Manufacturers also strive to design tires with increased durability, thus
prolonging the useful life of tires. Lastly, reuse of scrap tires via retreading gives tires a new use-
ful life (EPA, 2002).