Environment – Interstate Tires

INTERSTATE TIRE & RUBBER company is working continuously to reduce the impact of pollution and create cleaner production. In this context, INTERSTATE operates under the REACH-agreement, which (pre) registers all chemical ingredients of a tire.

Tires are the largest type of rubber used. It is necessary to understand the fundamentals of rubber production in order to understand the pollution prevention opportunities in the tire industries. Tires are produced by melting rubber pellets and additives into sheets, then binding the sheets with reinforcement such as steel wire and molding the sheets into tread patterns and wheels. Scrap rubber from tire making can be recycled in some cases. In others, the scrap is disposed. Most of the environmental concerns in tire manufacturing are about air emissions and solid waste management. Energy efficiency is particularly important for this sector because almost all processing uses heat.

The most fundamental principle for environmental protection in this industry is the use of recycled tires as a raw material, and the design of tires so they can be easily recycled. Because the volume of waste tires is relatively high in most countries, there are many organizations devoted to tire recycling. Most of the information about environmental protection in this industry is about the products and recycling, and there is little general information about environmental improvements in tire production. The chemical and rubber industries have technical resources and associations that can be used to find detailed technical solutions.

INTERSTATE solutions to increase efficiency and reduce waste in Tire Manufacturing.

Storage– Receive chemicals in closed docks in sealed containers or in bulk rail or truck shipments with a minimal history of spills.

– Store chemical piles inside the facility to ensure that any fugitive emissions can be contained within the facility.

– Provide sealed containers for all open materials. Sealed containers should have air space between the chemical and the container cover to minimize “puffing” losses when the container is opened.

– Provide computer inventory control methods to minimize the amount of stock purchased.
Operations– Utilize automatic dispensing and weighing equipment whenever possible. Automatic dispensing minimizes waste due to spills from manual dispensing and provides quality control.

– Provide protocols for cleaning up spills and sweeping to ensure the proper segregation of waste.