Liberty Tire, Hertz in recycling partnership

ERJ staff report (TB)

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania -- Liberty Tire Recycling L.L.C. has agreed with Hertz Corp. to recover and recycle scrap tyres from all Hertz car rental locations in the US

This is the first national agreement of its kind between a tyre recycling firm and a vehicle rental company, though Liberty Tire already has recycling agreements with other car rental companies on a regional basis, according to Liberty Tire CEO Jeffrey Kendall.

The contract with Hertz represents the potential collection and recycling of more than 160,000 tyres annually, Mr. Kendall said.

As a corporation, Hertz has shown its consistent dedication to sustainable business practices, according to Mr. Kendall. "With our continental footprint, we are the only company that can offer the services they are seeking, so we are delighted to partner with them."

Pittsburgh-based Liberty Tire is always working to develop relationships with potential national partners, in the car rental field and elsewhere, he added. "While we cannot share details on who we are working with, we would like to leverage the opportunities that the rental car industry provides to Liberty."

Liberty Tire is the largest scrap tyre collection and recycling company in North America, claiming to reclaim more than 140 million tyres annually at more than 40 processing locations. It produces a spectrum of recycled rubber products, including rubber for rubberised asphalt, rubber mulch for playgrounds and crumb rubber infill for athletic fields.

Among its recent projects, Liberty Tire partnered with Union High School in Union, Mo., to install more than 80,000 pounds of crumb rubber infill for the school's new athletic field. It also began a two-year research program with the University of Tennessee's Center for Athletic Field Safety for a series of studies on the potential benefits of crumb rubber in maintaining a natural grass athletic surface.

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)

Press release from Liberty Tire