Have you ever wondered what happens to the worn tyres that have been taken off your car? Every year Ireland produces an estimated 35,000 tonnes of waste tyres and these tyres form part of a recycling industry that ensures that even though they aren’t useful for driving on their useful life is far from over! After removal from your vehicle the old tyres are collected by an approved waste collector who will grade the tyre to establish a further use for it. A small percentage of the tyres can be reused and are exported to countries in Africa and South America to and a further percentage are suitable for retreading and will be eventually sold as remould tyres.
The majority however are not suitable for use as tyres and so the procedure of recycling begins. Firstly the rubber is shredded into smaller, more manageable chunks and the steel is removed. If the shredded rubber is to be used as a source of fuel for factory use it does not require any further processing , however if a different application is sought then the shred can be further processed into a more valuable granule or crumb. The rubber granule has a wide variety of uses and can be used in road production, landscaping, racehorse gallops and can even be coloured to suit purposes such as playground matting and athletics tracks. So even though you may be finished with your tyre there are plenty of people that can put it to good use and ensure that its not the end of the road for it just yet. If you need any advice on your car tyres call into one of our depots across Dublin where we stock a range of car tyres to suit all budgets or gives us a call on 01 860 20 20.
