Rubber has special properties compared to other materials. When used tires are recycled it results in products which largely retains the original technical characteristics of rubber. It is, for example soft, insulating, regains its original shape after a load and is durable. These properties can be utilized to produce products and structures with unique properties. For example; products that can withstand greater deformation without breaking, which dampen vibrations and noise, which has an insulating ability, purifying and stabilizing abilities and products. We can also add that it is persistent over time.
The construction industry has traditionally used mostly either unbound granular materials, (sand and rock material) or bound material (asphalt, concrete). Rubber material in the form of granules, for example, tire clip or the entire tyre offers unparalleled opportunities to perform new types of civil engineering structures with special advantages compared to traditional structures. Well known examples of how to create a new type of constructions based on the specific properties of rubber are artificial grass with rubber granules and appropriate soft protective coatings for playgrounds.
There are great potentials to develop constructions with unique properties where recycled material forms or is part of the construction, and will be wanted for its function and become profitable.
A basic problem, regardless of applications, is that this involves two different value chains and a natural link between these are missing. One value chain is construction and civil engineering and the other is the recycling of waste and residue products. These value chains have traditionally completely different focus in aim and purpose for businesses, so the desirable relationship with both “push and pull” is not naturally occurring. To create this link, some party must take responsibility for the need and the role that arise at the intersection of these value chains. Who takes this role is the leaping issue for further processing, manufacturing and managing where recycled tires wholly or partly constitute the raw material.