ATD wins SEAL award for tire recycling program

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C.—American Tire Distributors Inc. (ATD) was named a winner of the 2023 SEAL Business Sustainability Award for Environmental Initiatives, which honors companies for their leadership, innovative practices and commitment to sustainable business practices.

The awards cover four sustainability categories—environmental initiatives, sustainable products, sustainable services and sustainable innovations—and recognize the 50 Most Sustainable Companies in the World and the most impactful and innovative environmental initiatives.

"We are honored to be recognized as a leader in sustainable initiatives," ATD President and CEO Stuart Schuette said. "Innovation is at the heart of ATD, and we are always striving to be better. We are proud to continue the work we're doing with the tire recycling initiative."

ATD was recognized for its commitment to sustainable practices. Last year, the company created a new tire recycling initiative to collect scrap tires from retailers. ATD picks up the scrap tires when new tires are delivered and takes the scraps to be recycled. This service was created to address retailers' obstacle of getting reliable, environmentally friendly scrap tire pickup from scrap tire haulers, ATD said.

The tire recycling service reduces overall greenhouse gases (GHG) in the ecosystem by using delivery trucks to backhaul the scrap tires to recyclers. The process effectively lowers GHG while providing material for new products, ATD said.

There is also a significant potential impact in the ecosystem based on processing options available today, likely in excess of ATD's current measured impact. This impact is likely to have significant economic value to other actors in the system, the company said.

"Granularity was the theme of the 2023 sustainability awards. Across all industries and geographies, companies are going deep and granular—into materials, chemistry, processes, R&D, and more—to generate sustainability improvements," Matt Harney, chairperson and founder of SEAL Awards, said. "Corporate ESG leadership—like our 2023 honorees have demonstrated—is absolutely needed to address our climate crisis."

A full list of winners is available online at sealawards.com.