The roads we drive on every day are the number one most recycled product on the planet. However, the tires that are cruising down these asphalt roads are starting to make an impact in the recycle area as well. The latest trend is RTR, which is recycling used tires into a material that can be reused in asphalt.
According to the tire industry, tire recycling is a major success story. The stockpile of scrap tires has shrunk from over a billion in 1991 to just 60 million by 2017 and the asphalt industry is a big factor in shrinking the number of tires in landfills.
In a recent For Construction Pros article, they state, ground rubber applications accounted for 25% of scrap tire usage in 2017. Ground rubber is used to manufacture a number of products but the largest use of ground rubber is for asphalt rubber, utilizing approximately 220 million pounds or 12 million tires annually.