| July 19, 2002
News Release L & S Tire Company, which last year collected 1.5 million scrap tires in Washington, Idaho and parts of Oregon, is the newest partner in King County's LinkUp program, developed to encourage businesses to use recycled materials. The LinkUp team will assist L & S Tire Company in researching technology grant opportunities, updating the company's business plan and providing market research assistance. LinkUp was launched two years ago to encourage businesses and manufacturers to incorporate more recycled materials into their products. The program, sponsored by the King County Solid Waste Division, offers free, customized technical and promotional support to eligible businesses throughout Puget Sound. L & S Tire Company is headquartered in Spokane and has a south Puget Sound facility in Lakewood, Washington. With the help of the LinkUp team, L & S Tire will evaluate the feasibility of entering two new, higher-value markets. One is manufacturing smaller tire chips that are better suited for civil engineering applications and tire-derived fuel. The other is producing "crumb rubber" for use in a variety of recycled rubber products. If data reveal that a viable crumb rubber market exists, it may lead to the establishment of the first crumb rubber manufacturing operation in Washington state. The market for crumb rubber is a growing one. One of the fastest expanding segments is in athletic and recreational use, where crumb rubber creates a softer surface for running tracks, artificial-turf stadiums and playgrounds. Crumb rubber can also be blended with asphalt for use in highway construction. Rubberized asphalt has been used successfully in state highway projects in California, Arizona and Texas. The automotive industry, one of the largest markets for rubber products, has also expressed an interest in seeing more recycled rubber used in the rubber parts it purchases. L & S Tire Company collects scrap tires from waste transfer stations, landfills, tire retailers and wrecking yards. The company, launched in 1999, is Washington's largest scrap tire recycler and one of the largest in the Northwest. As tires arrive at the Lakewood facility, they are inspected and sorted. Truck, heavy equipment and reusable car tires that can be recapped are sold to markets outside the state. Tires that have no resale value are shredded into 6-inch strips. Each year, Washington state residents discard more than five million tires. Nationally, the figure exceeds 280 million tires, and about 84 percent of those tires are from passenger cars. (In Washington, dumping whole scrap tires in landfills is illegal.) The disposal of scrap tires is extremely problematic because of aesthetic and environmental concerns. L & S Tire Company is the 12th Puget Sound manufacturer to join the LinkUp program. The others are:
LinkUp works with an average of six new businesses each year. For more information about the LinkUp program, contact Erv Sandlin at (206) 296-0233 or visit http://dnr.metrokc.gov/linkup.
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