Where the rubber meets the road, Bridgestone Wilson met zero landfill challenges head-on. Shortly after Bridgestone Wilson achieved zero landfill, the price of petroleum and rubber dropped, adversely affecting the payback on scrap prices. Photo courtesy of Bridgestone, Wilson, N.C.

Not long after Bridgestone America’s Wilson, N.C., tire manufacturing plant (see Figure 1), achieved its zero-waste-to-landfill goal in February, 2013 within the financial parameters of landfill fee parallelism, the price of oil, which had been at historic highs of $110 per barrel, dropped with a thud like a shockless beater at the bottom of a hilly country road. Latex, usually a petroleum-derived product, is a main ingredient in tire formulas, so its cost influences tire scrap prices–good news for production costs; bad news for scrap recovery payback.

Figure 1 The entire staff participates in waste recycling and handling.

“When we established our goal, it was for waste diversion costs to be equal or less than if we were landfilling everything. But now, the price of oil is down, the price of brand new natural rubber is down, and so the price that we can get for reselling scrap products is likewise down,” relayed the plant’s Director of Environmental Management Greer Tidwell. Today, the price of oil is between $40 and $45 per barrel.

Despite oil’s price reduction throwing its scrap recycling plan out of alignment, the manufacturer has stayed its zero-landfill course. Why? Achieving zero landfill is an important step in the company’s overall “One Team, One Planet” sustainability vision to reduce energy, CO₂ emissions, VOCs, and water use— and its long-term goal toward a waste-free tire industry (read “Rolling toward zero waste, period.”)

“The most important part of this journey is reducing the amount of production waste we generate from our processes and products in developing a zero-waste mindset,” Tidwell said.

“Recycling 100 percent of the waste is not the ultimate goal here. Our goal is to get valuable use out of every pound of material, every gallon of water, every kilowatt of energy, every hour. We want all that to go into making great tires. We want to put the most possible value into our customers’ tires.”

Inflating Zero Landfill Program. Once the plant began tracking its waste six years ago, it assessed a 66 percent diversion rate of its waste from landfill. “Our internal goal was to achieve 90 percent waste recycling by 2017,” said Plant Manager Michael Darr. “We were doing our part but we weren’t really going for the gusto to find out if we could go all the way to 100 percent landfill diversion.

“And that’s really where our then Environment, Health, and Safety Specialist Irma Villegas came in to close that final gap. With the backdrop of all the company was doing as a whole, our plant was eager to be part of that vision.”

Villegas said, “I thought, we can push a little more. I worked with everybody to understand the process, and to see what waste we were generating.”

Progressing Through Materials

1. First, Easy. Initial efforts were on finding outlets the items that were most readily recycled, Tidwell said. “We started with the easy stuff we get paid for, such as cured rubber, cardboard, wood, lubricant oil, and metal.”

During the tire-making process, two general categories of rubber waste—cured and uncured rubber—are produced, Tidwell explained. “You put a tire in a mold, which is a little like a waffle iron, to cure the tires. And just like a waffle iron, you get a little bit oozing out of the side. While the tire expands in the mold, little hairs of rubber extrude out of what are called pin vents. We shave off those pin hairs, and that is a material for which there is a pretty good market because they’re tiny and uniform so they can be processed into other recycled rubber products very easily.”

Though the waste from each tire is small, because the plant manufactures more than 32,000 tires a day, the total volume of waste accumulates substantially.

Rubber materials are made into things like landscape mulch, door mats, and mud flaps for trucks, Villegas said. (For more about interesting reuses for rubber tire scrap, see the Rubber Manufacturers Association.)

Other valuable new purposes for spent tires include use as material in rubberized asphalt, construction materials, floor mats, roof mats, and even as a component in new tires (see Figure 2).

Figure 2 Tire and rubber scrap can be given another life as many different products.

Other production materials, such as cardboard packaging, wood, and metal have long been recycled, she said. Oil-based lubricants are filtered for reuse.

2. Next, Not-so-easy. Next Villegas and Greer moved on to finding outlets for the waste that’s not as readily recycled–for which there is a market but with more variability.

“Uncured, or green rubber is a little tougher to deal with because tires are made with up to three dozen components, (see Figure 3), and each is made with a different recipe,” Tidwell said. “So as you’re processing those components to prepare them to be assembled into a tire you end up generating some waste.”

Figure 3 Tires are made of up to 21 main components, 15 compounds and 120 individual parts, making recycling and repurposing them very complicated. Image courtesy of Bridgestone Wilson.

Many molded rubber products don’t have to meet the demanding quality standards of Bridgestone tires that are designed to meet the road for 50,000 miles or more. That uncured rubber can go into those kinds of products, Tidwell said.

Items such as mats and playground flooring can be made from recycled uncured rubber, Villegas said.

3. Last, Tough. At that point, the manufacturer had achieved 92 percent waste diversion. Efforts were then concentrated on managing the difficult waste.

“The really tough stuff—and I think this is true for almost every industry—is the mixed material that has more than one type of component, Tidwell said. For instance, the friction rubber, which is uncured rubber with wire embedded in it is very difficult to find an outlet for, he said. “It’s mixed, it’s laminated, it has a lining … plus it’ll stick to the bottom of your shoe like a piece of chewing gum. It’s just really hard to handle.”

Getting Roadside Assistance from Waste Management, UL Environment

So when the going got tough, Bridgestone turned to Waste Management Sustainability Services. “We realized we didn’t have to go it alone. We’re not the experts in knowing where all the outlets are,” Darr said. “Partnering with them gave us a big leap forward and helped us get to our final goal. They found people to buy the waste or take it for free and not discard it in a landfill.”

“We were doing everything we could,” Villegas added. “So the last 8 percent … ‘OK, what else can we do with this?’”

Waste Management found outlets for recycling or reusing some of the more difficult waste, including some rather creative ones. One was for a ring-shaped component called a metal bead. A company covers them with iridescent fabric and uses them to set up a popup runway airfield.

“Waste Management knows the market, the people, and are aware of the best options for us to recycle or reuse our waste,” Villegas said. “They help manage the waste program. They are finding the vendors, the right companies and outlets to take our materials.”

One of those options was to send the difficult mixed friction waste to an energy-from-waste facility. “There just was not an outlet for the friction waste. Nobody wanted it. This is another good use for that material,” Villegas said.

She said that the energy-from-waste option did come with a fee, but that it was feasible. “It was a little extra cost, but we said ‘We can manage that. We still can make the economics.’ It was the right thing to do.”

The waste management company also suggested that Bridgestone obtain UL Environment (ULE) validation. Villegas and Tidwell had been collecting data and had all the information needed to apply for validation. “We asked, ‘What is the cost? What extra things do we need to do?’” ULE looked at all the data from the past three years and showed which levels the company was eligible for. “They said, ‘It won’t be an extra effort for you because you’re already doing what you’re supposed to do. You just need to say yes.’”

Bridgestone Wilson achieved ULE validation in February 2014–a global first for ULE.

“We got the Zero Waste to Landfill level, which was the maximum level, with 14 percent of discarded material going to energy-from-waste,” Villegas said. ULE validation puts limits on the percentage of waste that can be sent to an energy-from-waste facility. That percentage is usually 10 percent, but the company reviews the market and customizes that percentage depending on the materials and their optimal next use.

One of the most valuable aspects of getting the certification was the assurance that sending the friction waste to an energy-from-waste facility was the best next beneficial usage, Villegas said. “We looked for other options for the uncured rubber-and-steel friction waste, and there was not another option. ULE validated that we were doing the right thing by sending it to the waste-to-energy plant,” Villegas said.

Tidwell said that the certification’s realistic approach in accepting energy-from-waste as part of the zero landfill achievement was significant. “There was a very intense review with very demanding standards, but it also brought a practicality to the process.”

Gaining Traction with Customers, Community

After the Wilson plant achieved zero landfill and ULE validation, Villegas said it received accolades, and she and Tidwell received invitations to speak. “We got awards and recognition from companies like Honda, and from the state; invitations from people asking if they could come and see what we are doing. We were in the news. I got a lot of emails. In the community, it was a big, big hit. I was asked to be part of the Chamber of Commerce’s Sustainability Committee in Wilson. Again, they were asking us for recommendations.”

Moving Into Leadership Role

Bridgestone Wilson’s ULE-validated zero landfill achievement positioned the manufacturer squarely in pole position on the leaderboard within the corporation, the community, and within the manufacturing segment as a whole.

“We really took up the leadership banner,” Tidwell said. “Among our Bridgestone plants, we released the competitive spirit, from plant to plant, and drove progress farther than I ever imagined,” Tidwell said. Today, five of the Bridgestone Americas operations have achieved zero waste to landfill and all of Bridgestone’s manufacturing plants are diverting more than 90 percent of their waste. What those achievements do among the whole family of our operations is motivate everybody that you can do more than you ever thought you could do,” Tidwell said.

Although the Bridgestone plant in Aiken, S.C., reached zero landfill status before the Wilson plant did, Wilson is the first to achieve ULE validation. Villegas said they liked the one-upmanship. “We wanted to be the first plant to be zero waste to landfill, but Aiken beat us on that, so we wanted to do something better.”

Villegas said that the program’s success spun from the company’s center.  “Let me say, we’ve got great leadership. They supported my ideas. I got the right resources to do the right things.”

Bridgestone Wilson has been recognized in the manufacturing segment at large as well. The plant is hosting the Sustainable Manufacturer Network’s Take on the Zero-waste-to-landfill Challenge workshop on Sept. 22 (see Figure 4).

Figure 4Bridgestone Wilson is hosting Sustainable Manufacturer Network’s Sept. 22 Take on the Zero Waste to Landfill Challenge.

Economics of Zero Landfill

Since the price of oil and natural rubber declined, returns on recyclables have not been so profitable. “We’re not making money. It’s a little complex because the realities of the recycling market are complex and we are subject to them in a real economy. If they were simple, this would be simple. And maybe easy,” Tidwell commented, adding, “It’s neither simple nor easy.”

There are multiple types of discarded materials and multiple outlets among them, with significant opportunities for cost savings, Tidwell said. “But there are some materials for which we are paying more than we would if we were landfilling them, and that’s an important consideration. We have to remember that our zero landfill achievement, on a bigger scale, really is about proving what can be done and motivating toward a zero-waste culture.”

Challenge to Other Manufacturers

Figure 5 Despite its massive size—2 million square feet on 535 acres—Bridgestone Wilson managed a massive cleanup and sends zero waste to landfill. Bridgestone Wilson Photo courtesy of Bridgestone, Wilson, N.C.

The company’s approach for establishing its short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals for success today and for future generations are framed within the “One Team, One Planet” mantra, Tidwell said. “We want to challenge every business to look to itself and do the same kind of thing.

“There’s no one answer to taking care of the environment or achieving sustainability. We all ought to be picking out that one thing that our companies can leverage and the community can leverage on us, working together,” Tidwell continued.

“We’re the tire guys. This is what we do well. Everybody else, do what you do well and pitch in,” he said. “At the core, we’re all in this together.”

Villegas posed, “Our plant is 2 million square feet on 535 acres (see Figure 5). If a plant as big as ours can do it, can you?”

Bridgestone Americas Inc., 3001 Firestone Pkwy, Wilson, NC 27893, 252-291-4275 www.bridgestoneamericas.com

UL Environment, 333 Pfingsten Road, Northbrook, IL 60062,333 Pfingsten Road Northbrook, IL 60062, 847-272-8800, www.ul.com

Waste Management, 1001 Fannin St., Houston, Texas 77002, 713-512-6200, www.wm.com

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Take on the Zero-waste-to-landfill Challenge!
Bridgestone Americas . Wilson, N.C. Sept. 22

Don’t miss Tidwell’s presentation at our Sept. 22 Take on the Zero-waste-to-landfill Challenge, hosted by Bridgestone at its Wilson, N.C. plant, which includes a tour. It, too, holds potential to be epic.

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Editor’s Note: For more information about the energy-from-waste process, read “How Energy-from-Waste Works” and “Top 5 things to know about the energy-from-waste process.”