How We Do It

There are many different methods for the recycling of rubber into rubber crumb.  The two most common methods are cryogenic grinding and ambient grinding.

Before either process can begin, the scrap rubber whole tires are mechanically shredded into a smaller size.  By reducing the scrap tires to a 1-2 inch block/chip or smaller size, the material can then be further refined into the final product.

Cleaning

Truck tires are made using natural rubber and contain additional components such as fiber/cord and sometimes fiberglass material as well as bead wire, which is high tinsel steel.  In both the Cryogenic and the Ambient processes, our rubber particles pass through a series of magnetic and pneumatic air filtration systems to remove the fiber, steel and other materials.   What is left is a clean and safe natural product.

Ambient Grinding

In ambient grinding, a large mill is used to crack or grind the larger chip into smaller particles.  These particles are then sorted by size using a series of screeners.  If a smaller particle is required, the rubber is sent back to the mill for further refining.  Once the rubber has been screened to the correct particle distribution and size per our customer's specification, the rubber is packaged as specified by the customer.

Cryogenic Grinding

Cryogenic grinding utilizes liquid nitrogen to freeze the rubber before it is processed.  The chips are frozen and then sent through a hammer mill.  This mill usually varies in style and operation from the ambient mill.  The mill breaks the frozen particles into smaller sizes.  The rubber is then sorted and packaged in a similar way as described above in the ambient grinding process.

Coloring

All of our playground rubber, mulch and infill crumb is colored with an industry proven rubberized paint that permanently adheres to the rubber particles.  Each color that we stock is bold and beautiful.  We sell the following colors but special orders are accepted for various other colors.

	Redwood
	Blue
	Grass-Green
	Sunburst Orange

Packaging

Most of our rubber is either packaged to industry standard in 2,000 pound bulk bags on pallets or 50 pound plastic bags depending on customer specification.  Custom packaging can be discussed.