Over the past decades, thousands of OTR tyres have been brought into Australia. In recent years technology has been introduced to prolong the life of OTR tyres but, ultimately they reach their “end of life”. These tyres are then stored or buried at mine sites. Current legislation banning the burying of OTR tyres at mine sites is pending and that EEC countries under Product Stewardship codes of practice are legislating to make the manufacturers of OTR tyres responsible for their disposal at their life’s end. Eagle Equipment Asia Pacific has the manufacturing and marketing rights for 22 countries in the Asia Pacific basin for the entire range of tyre shredding equipment developed by Eagle International in the United States. Eagle in the U.S. recommend a three stage process for the shredding of OTR tyres larger than 2 metres.
The process is as follows:-
Phase I Bagel Cut the OTR with the Punch Cutter — Time 20 minutes.
Phase II Cut the OTR into 25 segments using the Titan II — Time 10 minutes per half.
Phase III Cut out the bead with the Tuf Cut — Time 10 minutes per half.
The OTR is then shredded and ready for transport to be recycled. The third stage using the Tuf Cut to remove the bead may not be necessary —depending upon the size and capabilities of the recycling machine. Eagle is mindful of the fact that in its present configuration the Titan II will not conform to Australian Safety Standards, however engineers are working towards complying with existing safety standards.