New tire weight average helps recyclers better identify market opportunities

PITTSBURGH–New research is updating the average weight of recycled passenger and light truck tires by a substantial amount—25 percent.

It's an important change as the figure helps tire recyclers more accurately conduct business and assess the environmental impact of their work.

Research conducted through the Tire Industry Association shows the typical recycled passenger and light truck tire weighs about 25 pounds. That's a significant increase compared with the popular 20-pound estimate that has been used in the industry for at least two decades, said Dick Gust, chairman of TIA's Environmental Advisory Council.

"We're very comfortable with that number. Tire sizes have gotten bigger. Wheel diameters have gotten bigger. It doesn't take a genius to go out and look at tires and say, 'Hey, they're bigger,'" he said.

The previous estimate of 20 pounds was a fair estimate, Gust said. But times have changed, and so have tires.

"That was probably a pretty good number because most of the tires were 13-, 14-, 15-inch wheel diameter. But our industry became a lot more professional. A lot more processors got involved and tires began to get larger. Sixteen-, 17-, 18-inch wheel diameters these days are pretty common," he said.

Having a more accurate average used-tire weight is important on a number for fronts, said Gust, who also is president of national account sales for Pittsburgh-based Liberty Tire Recycling L.L.C.

The new 25-pound average better reflects the output of the tire recycling industry as well as the throughput on processing machinery. This helps companies better assess their costs and profits.

The new estimate also helps on the legislative and regulatory levels as the figure better reflects today's market conditions, Gust said. The higher figure, for example, could impact the amount of grant money received to process used tires. An updated figure also will help create more accurate recycling and diversion rates.

News of the new weight estimate comes just a few months after the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association published data that shows tire recycling has stalled in recent years.

While the overall number of tires has remained steady over the years, more and more tires are being used each year. This has resulted in a recycling rate decrease from about 96 percent in 2013 to 76 percent in 2019, USTMA reported in early 2021. The trade group looks at the recycling numbers every two years.

"There's sort of a hidden story here because scrap tire markets really didn't decline from 2017," Sarah Amick, a vice president and senior counsel for the trade group, said when the new numbers were released.

"I think the challenge is that we continue to have more scrap tires generated each year that we need to find a home for," Amick has said. "I think the big takeaway here is that scrap tire markets are not growing at the same pace as annual generation."

Liberty Tire volunteered the use of the company's recycling facility in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., to study tire weight last spring. The company processed 35,000 tires over a 10-day period and then weighed the material generated. The average tire weight turned out to be 25 pounds in California.

Liberty, the nation's largest tire recycler, also processed and measured 100 tires each at company sites in Florida, Illinois and Utah to validate the California finding. The collective average for these 300 times was 25.3 pounds, TIA said.

The updated per-tire figure also gives potential users of recycled rubber a better understanding of the overall market size and opportunity, Gust said.

That is key as more and more recycled rubber is being used in a variety of construction projects, including as fill material and as a component in rubberized asphalt. "As states look to support and give grant money to locations that are processing, it's very important that the number is more accurate. Our hope is that the whole industry gravitates toward the more accurate number than the 20 pounds which was totally inaccurate for the industry today," he said.

Challenging the long-held belief in the 20-pound average also can have an impact along the recycled tire supply chain, Gust explained. Accounting for larger and heavier tires can have an impact on prices negotiated to collect and process those tires from shops around the country.

A typical tire recycled tire yields about 70 percent recovered rubber, 15 percent steel, 3 percent fiber and 12 percent inert materials such as fillers.