CATRA members continue to show an impressive variety of high value uses in the products created from end-of-life tires in Canada.

CATRA conducts an annual data survey of its member organizations (10 provinces and one territory) to arrive at a nation-wide picture of new tires sold, used tires collected and recycled, and the final markets.

The chart shows the percentage of Canada’s scrap tires directed to each of the generally accepted uses in 2015: Tire Derived Products (TDP), which include crumb rubber, molded products, Tire Derived Aggregate (TDA), mulch, extracted steel and fiber, and blasting mats; and Tire Derived Fuel (TDF), which is generally consumed by cement or other industrial kilns as a supplementary fuel, in the whole-tire form or as shreds or chips.

Leading the way in 2015 and historically is crumb rubber, which is used in a variety of products such as athletics surfaces and fields, agricultural and equestrian mats, playground and other safety surfaces, patio blocks, and more.   When combined with molded products, which also incorporate crumb rubber, the two categories represent close to 60% of Canada’s end products.  The molded category includes products such as ramps, sidewalk curbing, landscaping forms, and other innovative applications.

Following crumb rubber and molded products in 2015, TDA is used in civil engineering applications using a variety of sizes of shredded rubber.  Examples include light fill in road construction and drainage/leachate material for municipal landfills.  At a national level, over the past three years, TDA markets have undergone a steady decline; this compares to a year over year increase in mulch, used exclusively in landscaping applications.  These types of changes in market trends are being closely monitored by CATRA members. 

Other key metrics from the 2015 data survey are now available on the CATRA website at both a National and Provincial/Territorial level.