RECYCLING TIRES
Tire recycling is at the heart of our sustainability journey.
What is our role in tire recycling?
Recycling is as important to our teams as it is to our customers. That’s why Kal Tire fosters various meaningful tire recycling initiatives in the regions where do business.
Beyond collecting the required pre-disposal fee that covers the cost of tire recycling for provincial tire stewardship organizations, we also participate in provincial tire recycling programs and act as scrap tire drop-off points.
At all of our stores, drivers can drop off up to four off-rim tires so they can be recycled into products such as rubber mats and playground surfaces. Across Canada, our locations collect an estimated 2 million scrap tires for recycling every year. If we stacked all those tires, the height would be 57 times higher than Mount Everest!
We also host Tire Round-ups in BC, and Kal Tire recently invested in the expansion of a tire recycling facility in Alberta to accommodate recycling giant mining tires from the oil sands. Kal Tire is also Canada's largest tire retreader, meaning we can replace worn tread on commercial truck and off-the-road tires to extend the useful life of the tire casings.
Hosting Scrap Tire Round-ups
Every summer, Kal Tire partners with Tire Stewardship BC to host Tire Round-up events. During these day-long events in BC, drivers are encouraged to drop off ‘orphan’ tires lurking in garages, barns, ditches, etc.—so we can collect scrap tires that might not otherwise be recycled. During Tire Round-ups, Kal Tire collects an unlimited amount of tires both on and off rim.
Retreading is Recycling
As Canada’s largest retreading company, we help commercial truck and mining customers extend the life of their tires and reduce their carbon footprint by applying a new tread to the casing of used tires.
Read more retreading >Investing in Tire Recycling Technology
To help mines solve the challenge of scrap tires in a way that makes the best use of recycled rubber, Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group has developed thermal conversion recycling and refining technology. Now in use in Chile, our process converts end-of-life mining tires into valuable commodities, such as recovered carbon black (rCB), and helps to promote a circular economy.
The Chile facility has the capacity to recycle 20,000 kilograms of tires every day. We’re excited to help other mining regions learn about this scalable, viable solution at the top of the recycling hierarchy.
Currently in western Canada, Kal Tire helps mines recycle earthmover tires through a partnership with a North American leader in tire recycling. The northern Alberta facility has the capacity to shred nearly 6,000 off-the-road tires, many from the oil sands region.
Learn more about tire recycling >
Where Scrap Tires Become Amazing Community Spaces
We’re proud to use tire recycling as a way to positively impact the communities where we work and live through Kal’s RePlay Fund. Kal Tire’s community grant program offsets the costs of using recycled rubber products to enhance community facilities in the form of playground surfaces, flooring, shingles, pathways and more.
Learn more about the Kal's Replay Fund >? Apply with Flexiti
