Key notes: 3 ways the potential of retreading shines

GREENVILLE, S.C. — There's a space between manufacturing sustainable tires and recycling sustainable tires.

That space is reusing them, specifically, retreading them.

Sometimes the industry forgets that, according to David Stevens, managing director of the Tire Retread & Repair Information Bureau, speaking recently at the Clemson University Global Industry Tire Conference in Greenville.

Tire makers, he said, sometimes forget to design tires that can be retreaded, and they forget to promote the sustainability aspects of retreading their tires.

"Some companies are doing it," Stevens said, "but there are other companies that talk about sustainability — and it is a key component of what they do — and they talk about all the acquisition of sustainable materials, so it is all about what goes into the tire itself. But then they skip over retreading, and they go right to recycling."

Stevens contends that retreads are one of the most reliable sustainability methods the tire industry has, and it has proved that again and again.

"Here is the crux of it: Retreading is all about sustainability and it always has been," Stevens said. "I mean, it is just starting to come to the fore for the tire industry itself and for end-users of these products."

Here's a look at three ways the retreading industry is showing its potential.

For new tire makers, tire sustainability starts with sustainable and sustainably sourced materials, operations and supply chains.

For the retreading industry, it starts with the casing.

A good, quality casing that is designed to be retreaded multiple times represents great value, Stevens said, not jsut for the user for also for the planet.

"About 70% of the value of the tire is in the casing itself," Stevens said. "If you manufacture a tire that is not designed to be retreaded, ... what a waste."

"Thankfully, most of the new tire manufacturers are specifically engineering casings to be retreaded multiple times. You see it in the warranties and guarantees that they offer. It is like — pick your manufacturer — they are guaranteeing three or more retreads for the life of the tire they are selling to their customer."

If the supply-chain snarls of the COVID-19 pandemic taught the industry anything, it's the value of "local-to-local," Stevens said.

During the pandemic, "we (were) able to deliver to customers," Stevens said, "and very early on, the retreading industry was defined by the government as a critical industry, so we were able to keep operating during the very early stages of the pandemic."

Supply shortages of new truck tires, both domestically sourced and imported, presented the retreading sector with an opportunity to fill the void and reach potential customers that previously hadn't been customers.

What they found, he said, was quality, reliability and cost savings.

"Supply-chain issues really impacted the supply chain industry. … And in some ways it really benefited the retread industry over the last couple of years because it constrained supplies of new tires that are coming into the U.S. market," Stevens said.

The continued growth of last-mile delivery creates measurable opportunities for both new tires and retreads, and in the case of retreads, Stevens said, there are significant cost savings — and sustainability benefits — to be gained.

"I am sure this is a big growth area for the tire companies themselves, and it is also a potential growth industry for the retread industry," Stevens said.

"These Amazon drivers — these local delivery drivers — they are just going through tires like they never have before and some of them are realizing that is becoming one of their biggest expenses and retreading could be a potential solution for them."