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TECHNOLOGY
Kal Tire Introduces New Carbon Calculator
Kal Tire has announced the certification of a new carbon calculator that can determine fuel and carbon emissions saved by retreading earthmover tyres compared to buying new. At the same time, the company is launching its Maple Program, which quantifies a customer’s environmental impact as they grow their fleet with retreads.
“We have long claimed that our retread products are beneficial to the environment, but now we are able to quantify those benefits and recognise customers for opting to retread earthmover tyres,” says Darren Flint, vice president, tyre lifetime services and vice president, European and West African operations, Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group. “Retreading reduces a tyre’s operating cost per hour, and it has become increasingly important to customers to reduce their impact on the environment. We look forward to providing customers with actual data on the environmental savings they achieve.”
The Maple Program uses data from Kal Tire’s new carbon calculator to award customers with one to five stars according to the percentage of their fleet running retreads rather than new tyres. The programme is first launching in Chile and the UK, with plans to roll out in other regions Kal Tire operates. In 2021, new environmental laws in Chile will dictate responsible tyre recycling, of which retreading is a suitable option. Pedro Pacheco, vice president, Latin America operations, Kal Tire’s Mining Tire Group, says Chilean customers have already embraced the Maple Program and see the value in receiving the certificate. “This programme gives us a framework to promote the environmental value of our retread product and process and provides solutions for customers within this new law. As we can offer incentives to increase the number of tyres retreaded, we’re giving tyres another life at a much lower cost and environmental impact, with the added benefit of reducing the number of
casings going into the waste stream.” One of the largest quarrying groups in the UK has been benefitting from Kal Tire retreads for several years, retreading hundreds of tyres each year. They are among the first UK companies to receive the Maple Program certificate highlighting how much oil and carbon emissions they’ve saved by retreading versus buying new tyres.
Two years of research and development went into the carbon calculator, which included analysing more than 125,000 Kal Tire retreading production records spanning the past 20 years. After a six- month approval phase, the carbon calculator was validated by SCS Global Services, an international leader in third-party environmental certification. The verification applies to all Kal Tire retreading facilities located in Canada, the UK, West Africa
and Chile, as well as their newest retread facility opening in Mexico, October 2019.
“The results were very positive, and now we can confidently share these oil and emissions savings with customers,” says Flint. “Our core goal throughout all operations is to prolong the life of the tyres that keep our customers’ fleets running. The Maple Program for retreads is just the first step in ensuring that the environmental benefit of keeping tyres
rolling and out of scrap piles is both recognised and appreciated.”
Kal Tire—an international leader in mining tyre services and solutions at every stage in the life cycle of a mining tyre—began offering retreading services in the 1970s as a way to help customers keep tyres in production and reduce the total cost of tyre ownership. The Maple Program was named as a nod to Kal Tire’s Canadian roots and the symbolism of the maple leaf in that country. The company is looking at incorporating other environmentally friendly tyre management offerings into the Maple Program, such as its proprietary Ultra Repair technology that can repair substantial injuries on tyres that would otherwise be scrapped.