The Timberland Co. will launch two new footwear collections featuring outsoles made using recycled rubber from discarded tires. The company notes that currently, more than seven billion tires sit in landfills worldwide, leading to one of the largest and relatively unknown environmental issues. Through the use of Green Rubber proprietary and patented technologies, Timberland will help transform waste tires into a valuable raw material.
“We are facing an unpublicized epidemic with 1.2 billion tires being disposed in landfills every year leading to water pollution and breeding grounds for disease-carrying insects,” said Datuk Vinod Sekhar, CEO and Founder, Green Rubber Inc. “With Green Rubbers environmentally friendly technology, we can start to make a real dent in the mountains of tires creating an environmental blight on the planet.”
Timberland said it will be the first footwear manufacturer to commercialize Green Rubber technology, incorporating it into the outsoles of more than 200,000 pairs of shoes scheduled for release in fall 2009. Using a blend of Green Rubber compound and virgin rubber compound (for an outsole that is made up of 42% recycled tire crumb), Timberland is able to maintain the durability and performance characteristics of their footwear.
“We are thrilled to have found a way to support making rubber a more sustainable resource. Green Rubber is positioned to have a major impact on the global rubber industry; managing tire waste can now become both a commercially viable and eco-conscious process,” said Jeffrey Swartz, CEO, The Timberland Company. “As a company we are committed to connecting successful commerce to environmental responsibility, and this is a great opportunity for us to share our commitment to sustainability with our customers.”
By 2012, Green Rubber intends to recycle the equivalent of more than 200 million discarded tires every year. The company is about to launch an aggressive expansion program as it looks to open new manufacturing plants for its revolutionary rubber compound in the Americas, the Middle-East, Asia and Europe.
