Robin Wiener, President of the US Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) recently told the BIR conference in Hong Kong that the Crumb Rubber issue was not going away despite dozens of papers showing that there is minimal or no risk.
Crumb Rubber Negative Image Needs to Change
Wiener said that despite the impressive body of research, ongoing negative media reports surrounding crumb rubber use in artificial turf have prompted some US jurisdictions to delay purchasing decisions, whilst 13 bills have emerged in the US this year targeting this application.
This had led to a 30 per cent decline in the crumb rubber market over recent years, not to mention job losses and company failures.
She warned that this represented “an industry-wide issue affecting all recyclers, regardless of commodity” and that it was therefore essential to “work together, sharing information and strategies”.
BIR Tyres & Rubber Committee chairman, Barend Ten Bruggencate of Recybem in the Netherlands noted that both the Dutch public health and environment institute RIVM and the European chemicals agency ECHA have both insisted recently that the health risks associated with rubber granulate were “negligible”.
