Off-the-Road (OTR) tires are absolute beasts of engineering. They range from standard, solid forklift tires all the way up to giant mining truck tires that tower over three and a half meters tall. While they are built to withstand the harshest environments on earth, their extreme durability creates an equally extreme waste management challenge. Historically, these massive tires were simply buried in the ground, a wasteful and environmentally unsustainable practice.
Fortunately, new legislation and a growing global demand for sustainable materials are driving the need for better recycling solutions. That’s exactly what the team at SSI Shredding Systems has set out to accomplish.
In their eye-opening video, How to Recycle OTR Tires, we get an exclusive look at an incredible end-to-end OTR tire recycling system engineered specifically for this monumental task. It’s not just a matter of tossing a giant tire into a standard machine; it requires a highly specialized, multi-stage process:
- Debeading: The process kicks off by pulling the dense steel bead wire out of the tire, which significantly reduces wear and tear on the downstream shredding equipment.
- Pre-sizing: Specialized equipment cuts the massive tires down into manageable sections to ensure cost and time efficiency.
- Shredding: The heavy lifting begins with the powerful Tri-Shear® T160 three-shaft shredder, which breaks the tough rubber down into flowable six-inch chunks.
- Grinding & Sorting: The Uni-Shear® SR900G grinder reduces the material size further, while magnetic sorting systems pull the liberated steel wire out of the rubber stream.
- Granulating: Finally, the Uni-Shear SR600F granulator processes the material into a fine, highly valuable crumb rubber product.
It is mesmerizing to watch massive earth-moving waste transform into valuable, reusable materials. Watch the full process in action in the video linked above, and visit ssiworld.com to learn more about their tailored shredding solutions.
