Yokohama Rubber Co. said that its Tire Materials Development Department received the 2012 3R Promotion Council Chairman’s Award.
The award is sponsored by the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Promotion Council (3R Promotion Council), and honored Yokohama for its use of recycled rubber powder in its products.
This is the fifth time Yokohama has received this award: for the Mishima, Japan, plant in 2002, the Mie, Japan, plant in 2003, and for its Hamatite Division and the Tire Materials Development Department in 2007.
Conventional recycled rubber powder has large grains, which makes it difficult to mix with other rubber materials. Yokohama has established new technology that allows recycled rubber powder to be applied in various compounds, and the mass production of tires incorporating recycled rubber powder was launched in February 2009. As a result, the percentage of use of various recycled rubber in 2012 was 2.2 times higher than in 2008.