Ontario reaches tire recycling milestone

by mbuckstein | February 20, 2013 9:12 am

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Ontario Tire Stewardship (OTS) has met its Used Tires Program goal of recycling 50 million tires in the province.

Founded in 2009, OTS encourages keeping tires out of landfills by reusing the materials for products such as carpet underlay, rubber mulch, sidewalks, and roofing. According to OTS’s executive director Andrew Horsman, the construction industry has an opportunity to contribute to the organization’s initiative.

“The construction industry is in a unique position of being able to participate in the Used Tires Program in a number of ways: by making sure they are working with tire-recyclers registered with OTS, by working with OTS in expanding the use of recycled rubber in a variety of applications including engineered aggregate and rubberized asphalt, and by using products made from recycled tire rubber,” he told Construction Canada Online.

Since the program began, it has accomplished various goals in the province including ensuring no tires are sent to landfills or burned and introducing $2 million into research and development for the possibilities of recycled rubber.

“We are now directing the bulk of our energies to developing the markets for high-performance, sustainable products made with recycled rubber in the construction, retail, and buildings industries,” explained Horsman.

For more information on the Used Tires Program and the uses of recycled rubber, see his article, “Reinventing the Wheel,” in the December 2012 issue ofConstruction Canada.

Source URL: https://www.constructioncanada.net/ontario-reaches-tire-recycling-milestone/

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