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Retreading Makes Every Day Earth Day (April 22 is the Actual Date)

20 April 1999

Retreading Makes Every Day Earth Day (April 22 is the Actual Date)

    PACIFIC GROVE, Calif., April 19 -- Every year Americans
celebrate Earth Day, which was created to call attention to the contributions
the public can make to the environment by recycling and reusing everyday
products.
    The retread industry -- now over 70 years old -- has been contributing to
the recycling efforts of our country for all of these years.
    Mainly a truck tire retreading industry today due to the low prices of new
passenger tires, retreading nevertheless is responsible for saving Americans
hundreds of millions of gallons of oil every year while saving millions of
tires from landfills at the same time. Passenger retreads are still available
in many markets, especially for winter tire use, and even though the price
spread is not as large as it used to be, the price of passenger retreads is
still lower than new passenger tires.
    "We may look round and black, but retreaded tires are actually very
'green,' or environmentally friendly. Every truck tire that is retreaded saves
approximately 15 gallons of oil, while keeping the tire back in service for
another life.
    "And retreaded tires save public and private sector trucking fleets
significant amounts of money when compared to higher priced new tires, all
without sacrificing safety or performance," according to a spokesman for the
Tire Retread Information Bureau (TRIB), an industry association.
    Commercial airlines, school and municipal buses, package delivery services
(including the U.S. Postal Service), emergency vehicles and truckers routinely
use retreaded tires.
    For more information visit the TRIB web site http://www.retread.org or call toll
free 888-473-8732.