ETRA, ASTM collaborating for recycled rubber standards

BRUSSELS (Oct. 26, 2015) — The European Tyre Recycling Association (ETRA) and ASTM International are coming together to establish global standards for recycled rubber materials, ETRA has announced.

The planned standards will cover materials including crumb rubber, powders and recovered carbon black, the ETRA said.

“One of the biggest barriers to the development of the tire recycling sector is the lack of a single, globally recognized standard specification for recycled rubber materials,” the association said.

“Consumers of materials are faced with a plethora of different specifications from every producer,” it said. “Producers are working towards their own best available output. The result is that large consumers of rubber materials are faced with specification and quality challenges.”

The ETRA will include the development of recycled rubber standards as a topic at its annual meeting in Brussels March 16-18, according to the association.

Meanwhile, the ETRA and the ASTM will begin a series of meetings on recycled rubber standards in Tampa, Fla., in December, the ETRA said. These will be meetings of Committee D04 on Road Paving and Materials (Dec 8-10), Committee D11 on Rubber (Dec. 7-9), and Committee D24 on Carbon Black (Dec. 7-9).

Committee D24 will meet again June 13-14 in Vienna, the ETRA said. Committee D04 will meet again in Chicago June 28-30, and Committee D11 will also be in Chicago June 27-29, it said.