Category Archives: Environmental Sustainability

How to dispose of all the used up tires we take in and what do we do with them has been a frequently asked customer question. Some industrial tires, while sometimes bearing a similar appearance to PLT products, require different disposal and recycling methods. In the not too distant past, these were usually trucked out of state and dumped into the vast tire disposal sites we’ve all seen pictures of. As environmental awareness becomes increasingly part of our world, that method will no longer work. Butler Industrial Tire has been actively pursuing several methods over the years to responsibly dispose of and reuse the scrap tire we take in from our customers.

Retreading is one of the common ways in which a resilient industrial tire can be put to continued use after the original tread has been worn off. Similar to the way commercial truck tires are retreaded, the main carcass of the tire is smoothed off at the tread face, and then a suitable tread pattern is applied based on the customer’s work environment and expectations. The tire can then have a second and sometimes even a third life if the main carcass of the tire remains intact. This process can be applied to pneumatic and radial industrial products as well. Before recommending this option to our customers, Butler Industrial Tire commonly will provide a complete assessment to determine if the retreading option will be the correct decision for our customers.

In the past five years there has been another manufacture driven option. In their efforts to satisfy the largest customer base, manufacturers have been adding a remolded option to their lineup of products. This process can be applied to the resilient and POB type of tires and has a two part component. We as wholesalers and direct sellers take in the scrap tires from our customers and send them to companies that can then process them for remolding. In our case we send them to Treadstone LLC in Niles, MI.

Treadstone sorts the tires and grades them according to the requirements of the manufacturers. For the tires that don’t measure up, the rubber is ground up and used as a non-decomposing mulch for various applications, and the steel, such as that on a POB type tire, is then recycled. The tires that can be recycled are processed in a similar way, but with 40-50% of the original tire left for the rebonding process. This saves on material costs and helps in the sustainability of the industry in general. The manufacturers then remold a new sidewall and tread face onto the core that they receive, making sure that they meet strict quality control requirements. These tires are then marketed by Butler Industrial Tire and other industrial tire outlets as a value based product for customers with less demanding requirements. For more information on Treadstone LLC, please visit their website, http://www.treadstonellc.com.

Butler Industrial Tire strives to be on the forefront of new technology to reuse and recycle to create a better and sustainable environment for our future. If you have any questions regarding our remolded products, please contact us and we will be happy to answer your questions.