Making Rubber Mulch

Scrap tire processors have found a new and expanding market in recycling rubber for landscaping and playground cover, but this niche isn’t entirely a bed of roses.

By Robert L. Reid

Turning rubber from old tires into artificial mulch for landscaping projects or as a protective surface on playgrounds is a relatively new market for many scrap tire processors. Though a few firms boast a decade or more of experience with this material, a larger number have entered the field in the past few years. They were attracted by a desire to diversify their recycled rubber into new markets; by good margins (one processor gets about six cents a pound for his rubber mulch compared with a penny a pound for his tire-derived fuel [TDF]); and by dramatic market growth rates of 10 to 20 percent a year or more.
   The rubber mulch industry has also been boosted by recent advances in processing technology and improved color coatings that make the finished product far more appealing to customers (see “New Technologies, New Attitudes” on page 126). Plus, government grants to promote the recovery of rubber from scrap tires have helped some processors buy new equipment to enter the mulch market and enabled potential customers to buy recycled rubber products. 
   At the same time, tire recyclers have learned that the rubber mulch market isn’t always a bed of roses. The technology can be expensive, with several producers citing investments of $1 million or more. Because some of this equipment is new to the industry, it can be difficult to learn, operate, and maintain, recyclers note. Plus, the exact processes for producing a quality product in the right size and colors can take time to perfect—perhaps a year or more. 
   What’s more, markets are generally seasonal (even in the warmer parts of the country) and mostly regional, especially given the rising freight costs. And those same government grants that support the market one year can disappear the next, leaving the recycler stuck with expensive equipment and no customers (see “When Government Gives ... and Takes Away” on page 130).
   Here’s a look at the opportunities and challenges of this spreading use for scrap tires.

Impressive Growth
The playground/landscaping market is expanding at a faster rate than any other product in the ground rubber/coarse rubber arena, industry sources report. Auburndale Recycling Center Inc. (Auburndale, Wis.), for one, has seen rubber mulch grow to more than 50 percent of its recycled rubber business in just four and a half years, says Jerry Swensen, president. 
   And even when rubber mulch does not represent that much of a firm’s overall business, the growth has been impressive: Rubber mulch only accounts for about 13 percent of total recycled rubber sales at RTI Technologies L.L.C. (Hanover, Pa.), but those sales have increased from roughly 1 million pounds annually five years ago to about 10 million pounds last year, reports President Timothy Leighty.
   On the consumer side, GroundScape Technologies (Brooklyn Heights, Ohio), which buys processed rubber from scrap tire recyclers, expects sales to increase 50 percent this year, divided evenly between landscape and playground applications, says Gary Giller, president.
   The size of rubber mulch itself varies somewhat: Playground cover and landscape material are generally made from shredded whole tires in sizes from 1/4 to 1 inch in length, with the larger sizes often earmarked for landscaping and the smaller sizes more popular as playground cover, industry participants note. Plenty of producers, however, make essentially the same size for both applications.
   There’s also a comparatively small but important role for tire buffings, which are used as a premium rubber mulch or blended with whole tire shreds to make a hybrid product. GroundScape, for instance, blends buffings with whole tire shreds to help meet wheelchair accessibility standards under the Americans With Disabilities Act, notes Gary Giller. Mulch with buffings commands about a 25-percent premium over mulch that contains only whole-tire material, he points out. 
   Rubber mulch is currently a regional product, with the size of the overall market currently unknown. Some tire processors simply produce or procure the right-sized material and then ship it to mulch manufacturers, leaving it to those specialized firms to apply the color coatings, package the material, and manage sales and marketing of the finished product. Other recyclers control the process from start to finish, installing coloring systems to complement their shredding lines and selling the product to end-users such as school districts for playground material or landscaping firms and garden centers for landscaping mulch.
   Safety is the top selling point for the playground cover, with various studies showing that shredded rubber provides better fall protection for children than wood mulch, wood bark, sand, or other materials, sources say. “It’s hands-down the safest material, and not just at install but for the life of the product,” notes Jana Nairn, CEO of Ag Link Inc. (Ballico, Calif.), which is affiliated with tire recycler Golden By-Products Inc., also based in Ballico. Rubber mulch playground cover does require some monitoring, Nairn says, “but unlike wood bark or wood mulch it doesn’t absorb water and break down, so you’re not going to have to replace it to maintain the depth needed for safety ratings.”
   For landscaping mulch, the key word is convenience. As noted before, wood mulch and bark biodegrade and, thus, must be replaced annually. Once rubber mulch is put down, it’s there to stay. Aging studies show that rubber mulch can remain in good shape for a decade or longer—an important selling point given that rubber mulch can cost more than twice as much as its organic counterparts. Rubber mulch is also heavier than other mulches, so it won’t blow away as easily, producers say.

Wire-Free or Why Not?
Quality in rubber mulch involves issues such as size consistency, general cleanliness (don’t try making playground material out of a tire that’s been buried in a landfill for 20 years, one processor warns), and the amount of tire wire remaining in the rubber. For playground material, the standard is as high as possible. Various manufacturers guarantee their tire shreds to be 99.9-percent free of steel wire. Even then, they recommend that children not run barefoot through the material for the first few weeks until any remnants of wire oxidize and disintegrate.
   This distinction between wire-free playground cover and landscaping material that might contain wire is highly controversial in the industry. Some producers outright refuse to sell material that contains residual steel, arguing “it’s a lawsuit waiting to happen.” 
   Given how easily landscaping mulch and playground cover can be interchanged, producers often don’t know exactly how their shredded rubber will be used. “Once it leaves your facility, you really have no control over the application,” says RTI’s Timothy Leighty, whose firm collects buffings and processes preshredded tire material purchased from other recyclers. “So I would not put the corporation or our reputation in harm’s way by sending product into the field knowing that it has exposed ferrous metal content that could possibly cause injury or damage in the event it was misused.”
   Likewise, Auburndale Recycling’s Jerry Swensen, whose firm shreds scrap tires for specialty manufacturers such as GroundScape, notes that selling a product that quite literally ends up in the hands of a homeowner or a child is vastly different from selling shredded rubber for civil-engineering projects or as TDF. “In civil engineering, the worst that will happen is that if you try to sell an inferior product, they’re just not going to buy from you again,” Swensen explains. “But if you’re selling a product to the general public, all it takes is one person to get poked in the finger or lose an eye or get an infection or something like that, and those lawsuits will just multiply tremendously. So the exposure for one pound of material going into a landscape application versus 100 tons of material going into TDF, to me, is a lot higher.”
   Those who sell landscape material that might contain tire wire counter that it’s enough to inform customers of the potential for wire in the product and then expect buyers to protect themselves with gloves or other precautions. They tend to produce two entirely separate products: larger-sized mulch for landscape use only, plus another material they sell specially for playground cover.
   Moreover, there are apparently no cases of injuries or lawsuits associated with rubber mulch or playground cover, whereas children who have fallen onto wood-based mulches have suffered sometimes serious injuries from slivers that can be several inches long—including one child who lost an eye from such a splinter, producers note.
   Combustion is another safety concern with rubber mulch. Though the product itself is nontoxic—it’s harmless even if accidentally ingested by a child or animal, producers note—a burning piece of rubber will give off toxic fumes and cause toxic leachate problems. One town in Alaska recently reevaluated its use of rubber mulch playground cover following an arson incident there. But the point about arson is key, notes Ag Link’s Jana Nairn. “Tires are considered nonflammable on their own—they have to be ignited with a fuel, just like any other combustible,” she explains.

Seeking Specialists...
In marketing rubber mulch, some manufacturers have placed their products with nationwide retailers such as The Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Wal-Mart—but apparently only at select stores and with mixed results. Anecdotally, one Home Depot in Florida reports ongoing strong sales for the rubber mulch it carries, while certain Lowe’s stores in the Carolinas that sold rubber mulch last year decided not to offer the product again this year. 
   Other producers report better success working with local school districts, municipalities, and businesses, as well as garden centers or landscaping firms. Jaitire Industries (Denver) even opened its own store to sell mulch directly to homeowners.
   At Auburndale Recycling, competition from cheap and even free wood mulch—because of all the paper and saw mills in Wisconsin—means that Jerry Swensen sells more than 90 percent of his rubber mulch outside of his home state. Though Auburndale initially tried to make and market its own colored mulch for more than a year, Swensen eventually switched to simply producing shredded rubber for specialized mulch manufacturers. 
   “When you’re trying to do it all, it’s hard to get out there and do a good job of marketing it in a broad enough area to handle the volumes we produce ... about 110,000 to 120,000 pounds a day of playground or landscape material,” Swensen says. “So it just made good sense for me to team up with somebody who already has the sales force for marketing ... and let them do what they do best and me do what I do best.” 
   Likewise, veteran tire recycler Dave Quarterson discovered that rubber mulch can be a seasonal product even in a Sunbelt state. Quarterson was CEO of Florida Tire Recycling Inc. (Port St. Lucie, Fla.) from 1994 to 2003, during which time the firm made an uncolored playground cover that it sold primarily to schools and municipalities. But the schools only wanted to install the product during the summer and fall, which was “pretty much the same cycle you have up north,” adds Quarterson.
   Moreover, one of the product’s selling points—its longevity—was also a drawback because it limited repeat business. “Once you got your order, that was the end of it—now you had to go and sell another school,” he explains. And even when the company won a districtwide contract for multiple schools, he adds, “the sales and marketing effort required a huge investment.”
   That’s partly why he prefers his current situation as senior director of Liberty Tire Services Inc. (Pittsburgh). Liberty simply grinds radial truck tires to meet GroundScape’s specs and then ships the material. “Our price per pound is not as high as the price per pound we received in Florida, but we have no marketing or distribution costs,” Quarterson says. Plus, GroundScape buys year-round to make sure it has enough material on-hand and colored for when the installation season starts in the spring, he notes.
   Though many rubber mulch producers handle both passenger and truck tires, Quarterson sticks with radial truck tires because they don’t have the fiber that’s found in passenger tires—and which he believes is even harder to remove than tire wire. Another processor adds that fiber absorbs large amounts of colorant. Still, finding enough radial truck tires to meet Liberty’s monthly production of 1,200 tons is tough, Quarterson admits.

...Or Going It Alone?
Doing it “all” does appeal to some firms, though. Golden By-Products, for instance, spent more than a year developing the right combination of equipment to grind, size, classify, and remove steel from rubber to make 3/4-inch steel-free tire pieces. Then, with its affiliate company Ag Link, Golden developed a batch coloring system to produce a branded product called Rubber Bark. In addition to their Rubber Bark venture, Golden and Ag Link have done custom coloring and private label work for other companies interested in the West Coast market, including GroundScape. Though Nairn describes Golden By-Products’ feedstock sales for rubber mulch as “still in its infancy,” this market segment has grown to nearly 10 percent of the firm’s revenue in just two years and could eventually reach as high as 25 percent, Nairn predicts. 
   Jaitire Industries has been producing and marketing its own material for about 13 years now, making it one of the industry’s true veterans. Though the Denver-based company sells its rubber mulch mostly in the Rocky Mountain region, it sometimes gets an order from too far away—such as the East Coast—to afford the freight. When that happens, Jaitire buys mulch from a processor closer to the customer, notes Corny Snyder, the firm’s president. Business is good, she adds, with sales of playground cover likely to double this year and sales of landscaping mulch expected to quadruple over last year’s numbers. 
   Rainbow Turf Products (St. Cloud, Fla.) has also been making and marketing its own rubber mulch for more than a decade, and it is one of the few firms with a product that uses only buffings, says Dave Antonacci, president. Though buffings are in high demand, there’s a limited supply, which explains why they account for “way less than 20 percent” of the rubber mulch market, he notes. 
   High Tread International Ltd. (Lockport, N.Y.) buys about half the buffings it uses and generates the other half on its own, notes Derek Martin, president. High Tread, which just entered the rubber mulch market in September 2004, produces three types of rubber mulch—a premium product made from 100-percent buffings that commands “a relatively good margin,” a hybrid of buffings and passenger tires, plus a mulch made entirely from passenger tires. 
   In addition to making some of its own buffings, High Tread colors and markets all of its mulch products. Quality control is the company’s reason for going it alone. 
   “We see the need to control the quality of both the rubber that’s going to a coloring line or a packaging line as being a critical part of the process,” explains Martin. “Although this is a potentially good market, it could easily self-destruct if the steel content and sizing and all the rest of it is not strictly monitored.” 

New Technologies, New Attitudes
Recent technological developments—such as better colorants and specialty equipment for separating tire wire from recycled rubber—have greatly accelerated the rubber mulch industry, producers note. 
   One company in particular—Barr Formulated Products (Wexford, Pa.)—is frequently cited for its work with color coatings. “Nobody was really interested in black mulch,” notes Corny Snyder of Jaitire Industries. But when good colorants came into the marketplace about three or four years ago, the market began to grow. Now, colored mulch and playground cover costs about twice as much as black shreds, “but people would rather have the colored product,” Snyder says. 
   On the equipment side, three manufacturers get credit for introducing wire-removing “rasper” technology: Columbus McKinnon Corp. (Sarasota, Fla.); Eldan Recycling A/S, a Danish firm distributed in the United States by Wendt Corp. (Tonawanda, N.Y.); and Granutech-Saturn Systems Corp. (Grand Prairie, Texas).
   The growing market for rubber mulch has even attracted a special blade from B&J Manufacturing Co. (Glenwood, Ill.) designed just for the buffings niche.
   But new technology can also require a new and steep learning curve. For instance, operating a high-speed, high-production rasper requires considerably more attention in terms of preventive and scheduled maintenance, start-up checklists, and other equipment preparation than the traditional tire-processing equipment used for making TDF or civil engineering material, notes Dave Quarterson of Liberty Tire Services. Using an automotive analogy, he explains, “You don’t service a Maserati the same way you service a Ford Focus—that’s the comparison between these machines.”
   Whereas regular tire processing equipment, producing roughly 1,200 tons a month of tire shreds, might go three months without a blade change, Liberty will change the blades on a rasper eight times over a similar production period, Quarterson says. And unlike many tire-processing procedures that can be performed outdoors, rubber mulch needs to be shredded under roof, with air-handling systems collecting any dust that’s produced.
   Making rubber mulch also requires a new mindset by the producer. “You have to begin thinking differently,” Quarterson says. “You have to begin thinking as a manufacturer of an end product, not as a processor who’s doing rough grinding.”
   If you can do that, he adds, the bottom-line results are worth it: Rubber mulch fetches roughly $120 to $150 a ton compared with $20 a ton for traditional recycled rubber products. 

Robert L. Reid is managing editor of Scrap.