Treadlite converts used tyres into a range of products. Horse riding arena mix. Granules used for playground matting, artificial sports fields, mats and gym flooring.
The company has gained significant extra traction since partnering with the national Tyrewise recycling scheme, which was initiated by 3R Group in 2012. As a Tyrewise partner, Treadlite now collects and recycles about 2.4 million tyres each year. That’s roughly 40% of New Zealand's end-of-life tyres.
But even with this prodigious scale, Treadlite has maintained its commitment to sustainability within the business, as well as in its work, with contractual encouragement from Tyrewise.
A major feature of that has been electrifying aspects of its business.
Executive Director Blake Richardson says: “We’ve always focused on doing the right thing.”
Treadlite has gone straight for the jugular of its greenhouse gas emissions – transport. The company runs a fleet of 42 trucks. Together, they service around 2,000 locations across the country.
New Zealand’s landscapes and dispersed population present notoriously difficult logistical challenges. In response, Treadlite has developed a ‘hub and spokes’ approach. The ‘spokes’ out into the country are serviced by smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Many of them can be driven on an ordinary car licence. These consolidate collected tyres into strategic ‘hubs’.
At the hubs, tyres are compressed by baling machines. About 100 baled tyres can fit into one cubic metre, tethered with metal straps. Much larger trucks are used to take these to processing facilities. The process allows Treadlite to increase the payload on a single truck from 15-16 tons of stacked tyres, to 28-32 tons of compressed tyre bales. The whole process radically reduces the number of truck journeys required and seeks to maximise fuel efficiency.
Importantly, the company has also leveraged emerging technology, working to replace the baling machines with electric versions where it can secure the necessary power supplies. And it’s working to replace its lighter fleet of cars, utes and forklifts with hybrids and electric vehicles. One plug-in hybrid electric ute and seven electric vehicles are in currently in the fleet. Installing smart home chargers that allow the company to monitor and reimbure charging costs has helped to incentivise workers to make the shift.
At the same time, solar panel installations are planned for its Cambridge and Christchurch sites, with landlord agreements in place, supported with ‘green’ loans from BNZ.
The company now also has a B Corp certification. This rightly illustrates its position among some of the world’s leading firms on sustainability and corporate responsibility.
That’s what you get for dealing neatly with one of life’s messier problems.