Dive Brief:
- Liberty Tire Recycling, one of the largest tire recyclers in the nation, has formed a partnership with Lehigh Technologies Inc., a materials firm that will work to create and market a rubber modified asphalt (RMA) system.
- Liberty will offer sales, service, and support for Rheopave RMA Systems in particular regions.
- The Rheopave additive technology is manufactured by Lehigh, and contains a mixture of polymers and other materials that serve to enhance the performance of rubber powders in RMA systems.
Dive Insight:
According to Doug Carlson, the vice president of asphalt products, “Rubberized asphalt is longer lasting, safer, less costly and friendlier to the environment.”
In April 2013, Liberty partnered with NASCAR to recycle 120,000 tires into rubberized asphalt for use at racetracks and parking lots.
Liberty Tire has been dipping its toes in a variety of sustainable projects. In October 2014, the company inked a deal with Global Clean Energy (GCE), a waste-to-energy alternative fuels firm. The companies established a supply agreement under which the recycler will provide tire scraps that will be used as feedstock for a tire-to-fuel project.