Tire and Rubber Association of Canada Announces the Winners of Its Inaugural 2022 Industry Leadership Awards
The Tire and Rubber Association of Canada recognised outstanding individuals and businesses for their dedication and commitment to excellence in the tyre and rubber industry including end-of-life tyre management businesses and other businesses focused on sustainability.
The TRAC Awards Ceremony took place immediately following the Association’s Annual General Meeting on June 14, 2022, at the Alt Hotel Toronto Airport in Mississauga.
The inaugural Industry Leadership Awards recognised leadership in the following categories: Leader of the Year, Lifetime Achievement, Sustainability, and Young Leader.
“To our delight, we received submissions from many highly qualified industry professionals and companies; and picking any one single winner in most categories proved itself a challenge. That is why we chose to recognise multiple winners in several categories. This year, we are pleased to celebrate 11 individuals and companies who have demonstrated leadership and excellence, and whose contribution to the tire and rubber industry in the areas of business, innovation, and sustainability had been simply outstanding.” said Carol Hochu, President and CEO of TRAC.
Leader of the Year was awarded to Emmie Leung, Founder and CEO of TRAC member firm Emterra Group. For over 45 years, Emmie has led Emterra from a one-woman start-up to one of Canada’s largest integrated resource management companies. Emmie’s ability to envision business growth and development in the circular economy has led to Emterra’s expansion into several divisions. Emmie created Emterra Tire Recycling (ETR) in 2005 and has continued to make significant contributions to tyres’ circular economy and became a leading supplier of crumb rubber in Canada.
The Lifetime Achievement Award was given to four members; Don Blythe, Don Campbell, Jim Henderson, and Glenn Maidment in recognition of their outstanding achievements and enduring legacies to the Canadian tire and rubber industry and to the community at large.
In the area of Sustainability, TRAC honours Kal Tire, Maureen Kline, and Tyromer Inc. for their environmental, economic, and social contributions.
Kal Tire has long held a value of continuous improvement, recognising its responsibility to its customers and the environment. From team practices to process operations, Kal Tire is committed to reducing waste, conserving energy, and developing solutions that enable customers to reap stronger environmental benefits. The company has been Canada’s largest retreader of truck tyres for many years; and they have gone beyond that to develop practices in raw material reclamation and recovery, and lifecycle analysis, such as using the reclaimed material in OTR rubber compounds when retreading, creating their own internal circularity.
Last year, Kal Tire opened its first thermal conversion recycling facility for mining tyres in northern Chile. Additionally, Kal Tire recently launched its Maple Program, which uses a proprietary carbon calculator to provide mining customers with third-party verified data on how much CO2 and oil is saved when they retread tyres vs buying new, and the organisation is looking to expand this to other commercial tire lines.
Maureen Kline, Pirelli Tire North America
Maureen Kline is Vice President, Public Affairs & Sustainability (North America) of TRAC member firm Pirelli. She has a background in international public affairs, sustainability, journalism, and communications. Kline has an immense passion for sustainability and has led the Sustainability Task Force of the US Tire Manufacturers Association, as well as participating in the Corporate Responsibility Steering Committee of the Detroit-based Automotive Industry Action Group, the Standards Advisory Group of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB-Value Reporting Foundation).
Tyromer’s Tyre-to-Tyre vision aims to further elevate sustainability in the tyre and rubber industry by devulcanising rubber from end-of-life tyres. Tyromer’s energy-efficient, non-chemical rubber devulcanisation technology can return about 20% of recycled tyre material back into new tyres and much higher percentages in general in rubber products through its Tire Derived Polymer (TDP) product.
