Hertz Launches Nationwide Tire Recycling Initiative

A few weeks ago, the Hertz Corporation and Liberty Tire Recycling launched the first nationwide tire recycling program in the U.S. car rental industry. Over 160,000 tires will be recycled a year under this program. Liberty Tire Recycling, the largest tire recycling company in North America, turns used tires into rubber feedstock. Some of the products the rubber feedstock is turned into include rubber mulch, mats and playground safety surfacing, composite crossties for railroad tracks, and rubberized asphalt.

Hertz is the first rental car company to launch a zero landfill waste tire program. Mark Frissora, Chairman and CEO of Hertz, said that through the partnership with Liberty the company is "implementing the first national tire recycling program and again set the pace for our sector."

The tire recycling program with Liberty is one of many sustainability measures that Hertz is implementing, including the use of electric vehicles (EVs). Part of Hertz's rental fleet is the Green Traveler Collection, which includes EVs. Hertz also has a car sharing service, Hertz On Demand has EVs including the Nissan LEAF, Chevy Volt and Mitsubishi iMiev available for short-term rental. Hertz recently expand its EV car rental program through a pilot initiative with Plugless Power, which allows EVs to be charged without being plugged into an outlet.

Tire recycling is big in the U.S.

Last month, Triple Pundit writer Leon Kaye wrote about Hertz's announcement of its partnership with Liberty. According to Kaye, tire recycling "has been a success story over the past 20-plus years, as approximately 70 to 80 percent of scrap tires end up converted into fuel, ground cover, pavement or new products." However, there are still "tens of millions of tires in the U.S. alone that end up in a landfill."

According to a Forbes article, up to 90 percent of the tires in the U.S. get recycled and turned into products. The EPA's statistics for scrap tires show that there are 290 million scrap tires a year in the U.S. and 233 million go to a market. The ones that go to market are re-used in the following ways:

• 130 million are used for fuel


• 56 million are used for civil engineering projects


• 28 million are used for ground rubber applications


• 7 million are either punched or stamped into new projects

Partnering with Liberty is definitely smart on Hertz's part, and will help the company do its part to recycle more tires.

Image credit: Liberty Tire