Liberty Tire Recycling Announces Nationwide Partnership with The Hertz Corporation to Recover, Recycle Scrap Tires at Car Rental Outlets

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Liberty Tire Recycling, the premier provider of tire recycling services in North America, has signed an agreement with The Hertz Corporation (NYSE: HTZ), the largest worldwide airport general use car rental brand, to recover and recycle scrap tires from all of the rental agency's locations in the United States.  It is the first agreement of its kind in the car rental industry and will result in the collection and recycling of more than 160,000 tires annually. 

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"At Liberty Tire Recycling, we are always looking at ways to develop productive partnerships that lead to the recovery and recycling of more scrap tires across North America," noted Jeffrey Kendall, CEO of Liberty Tire Recycling.  "Hertz is a leader in its industry, and with this agreement, they have demonstrated definitively that they are committed to sustainable practices.  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." 

As the premier provider of tire recycling services across the continent, Liberty Tire Recycling remains at the forefront of a conservation industry that reclaims more than 140 million scrap tires annually, representing more than a third of the scrap tires generated in the United States.  Those tires are taken to one of more than 40 processing locations.  They are then transformed into crumb rubber, which becomes the raw material for smart, sustainable products that improve people's lives. 

Recycled rubber can be used as an additive for rubberized asphalt, which can make highways quieter and safer.  It can also be transformed into rubber mulch for safer playgrounds or crumb rubber infill for better, safer athletic fields. 

"This past summer, Liberty Tire Recycling donated Groundsmart Rubber Mulch to The Children's Inn at The National Institute of Health in the nation's capital, where it was used to build a new playground and for landscaping," Kendall added.  "It's the kind of project that can make a difference while ensuring that scrap tires are removed from the waste stream.  As playground safety surfacing, Groundsmart Rubber Mulch is far superior to its wood counterpart, because a six-inch layer of Groundsmart Rubber Mulch will cushion a child's fall from as high as 16 feet."

Kendall went on to offer other examples:

• Liberty Tire Recycling recently partnered with Union High School in Union, Missouri for the installation of a new athletic field surface containing more than 80,000 pounds of the company's crumb rubber infill.  The installation enabled the high school's athletes to benefit from the use of a more durable and safer athletic field surface. 
• Earlier this year, Liberty Tire Recycling began collaborating with the University of Tennessee's Center for Athletic Field Safety on a series of studies to test the potential benefits and role that crumb rubber plays in maintaining a natural grass athletic surface.  The two-year program is aimed at quantifying the value proposition that crumb rubber infill offers as an enhancement to natural grass, and how it can potentially improve the quality of the surface and safety for the athletes using it.
• The city of Baytown, Texas replaced traditional wood mulch with 10,000 pounds of Liberty's Groundsmart Rubber Mulch at a park and sports complex.  Since rubber mulch remains bright and plush for 12 years, the city will realize savings over the next decade by avoiding annual replenishment of wood mulch. 
• In August of this year, Liberty Tire Recycling hosted Recycle WISCONSIN: 2012.  Held at the Modified Asphalt Research Center (MARC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the program brought together transportation and environmental professionals, civic leaders and policy makers so that they could learn more about new applications for recycled rubber, including its ability to make highways safer. 

"More and more municipalities are recognizing the benefits of using rubberized asphalt for paving highways and other roadways," Kendall continued.  "It cuts maintenance costs and provides for a safer, smoother ride.  It also ensures that more and more tires do not end up as landfill waste."

To help advance the adoption of rubberized asphalt, Liberty Tire Recycling was instrumental in the formation of the Rubberized Asphalt Foundation (RAF) earlier this year.  A research foundation dedicated to the science and practical use of recycled tire rubber in asphalt, the organization includes individuals from academia, government and industry whose work focuses on the technical development of rubberized asphalt applications.

Liberty Tire Recycling has also been involved in the cleanup and remediation of hundreds of illegal tire dumps across North America over the past decade.

In April of this year, the company collaborated with the City of Atlanta and Keep Atlanta Beautiful to stage a city-wide tire cleanup event.  Volunteers gathered throughout the city and collected 25,000 scrap tires in one day.  Those tires were then transported to Liberty's facility near Atlanta, where they were recycled.

For more information on Liberty Tire Recycling, visit www.libertytire.com.  

About Liberty Tire Recycling 
Liberty Tire Recycling is the premier provider of tire recycling services in North America.  By recycling more than 140 million tires annually, Liberty Tire reclaims about 1.5 billion pounds of rubber for innovative, eco-friendly products.  The recycled rubber produced by Liberty Tire is used as crumb rubber and industrial feedstock for molded products; as tire-derived fuel for industrial kilns, mills and power plants; and as rubber mulch for landscaping and playgrounds.  The company maintains a nationwide network of processing plants, and comprehensive door-to-door collection services.  Liberty Tire Recycling is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA.  For more information, please visit www.libertytire.com.

SOURCE Liberty Tire Recycling