Crumb Rubber Overview

Crumb rubber is granulated material derived from scrap tires or other rubber goods with the inherent reinforcing materials such as steel and fiber removed through a variety of shredding technologies.

Crumb rubber is manufactured from two primary feedstocks: tire buffings, a byproduct of tire retreading and scrap tire rubber. Scrap tire rubber comes from three types of tires: passenger car tires, which represent about 65 percent of the total weight if US scrap tires; truck tires, which constiute 20 percent of the total weight of US scrap tires; and off the road tires, which account for 15 percent of the total US weight of scrap tires. On average, 10 to 12 pounds of crumb rubber can be derived from one passenger tire.

Crumb Rubber Markets

Crumb rubber is used in a growing number of products and applications in a growing number of diverse markets.

Major markets for cruumb rubber include: athletic surfaces and fields, automotive parts and tires, contruction, landscapes, molded and extruded products, playgrounds, rubber modified asphalt and sealants, and rubber and plastic blends.