Introduction
Welcome to the Products section of the Bridgestone Americas Environmental report. The purpose of this section is to provide a closer look at the wide array of safe and high quality products that Bridgestone Americas manufactures. Many of our products provide great and industry leading environmental benefits to our customers. We are proud of this leadership and pleased to share our story with you.
Tires – A Complex Engineering Process
Tires are not made by simply pouring rubber into a mold. Highly-trained Bridgestone Americas teammates design and create tires using state-of-the-art research facilities and high-tech machinery. These tires are composites of high-performance materials including numerous different types of scientifically-designed elastomers, several specially engineered fabrics, and distinctive alloy-coated steel belts and beads, which keep the tire firmly seated on the rim.
We simultaneously balance many tire design factors including load capacity, traction, endurance, comfort, low noise, handling and rolling resistance, to satisfy our customers with tires that excel in quality, performance and price, while minimizing the products’ environmental impact. Bridgestone Americas works constantly to produce tires and other products to meet the highest standards for environmental performance.
Safe, High Performing, and Cost Effective Products
Tires account for approximately 75 percent of Bridgestone Americas’ annual revenues. The tires made by Bridgestone Americas’ family of companies include over 8,000 different types and sizes. The Bridgestone, Firestone, Dayton and associated brands address the needs of every type of consumer. A few leading examples include:
- Bridgestone truck tires have earned the reputation for delivering outstanding cost-per-mile efficiencies. The Bridgestone M720 drive radials help fleet owners improve fuel economy by up to 4 percent, which can save the typical trucker nearly 1,000 gallons of fuel per year.
- Since 1909, Firestone has been leading the way in race tire technology. Through 2000, the winning car at the Indianapolis 500 had raced across the finish line with Firestone tires 51 times. With such a winning record, the Indy Racing League and Firestone tires signed an exclusive partnership in 2000. Every Indy race car now rides on Firestone tires.
- The synergy of tire research and racing has produced revolutionary product improvements like the Bridgestone Uni-T AQII tires, which nearly eliminate the decline in grip that occurs during the life of conventional tires.
- The Firestone Polyiso foam insulation board is the insulation trusted most by roofing professionals and is used in approximately 60 percent of all new commercial construction applications. The annual energy savings from the insulation board are enormous. Over its in-use lifetime, each square foot of this extremely lightweight and very stable product saves hundreds of times the energy invested in its manufacture.
- Pond liners - Firestone Specialty Products manufactures high-quality; durable geomembrane systems used for a wide variety of decorative and critical containment applications including commercial and residential ponds, waterfalls and streams; irrigation canals; storm water retention ponds; agricultural pits and ponds and aquaculture applications. For example, the PondGard product was selected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to line the 23 ponds of the Dexter National Fish Hatchery, the nation’s only federal facility devoted to protecting endangered fish species.
- Garden Roofing - Garden Roof systems are a fast growing segment in commercial roofing and offer numerous environmental benefits including storm-water retention and reduced urban heat Island, They also qualify for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) register mark points. Firestone's Garden Roof Design Guide utilizes the proven performance of our Fully Adhered EPDM (ethylene propylene diene monomer rubber) and TPO (thermoplastic polyolefin roofing membrane) roofing systems in concert with various accessory components to create and construct Garden Roof Systems.
All Bridgestone Americas products are made with pride. That sense of pride inspires Bridgestone Americas in all we do.
Tires are One of the Most Recycled Products
We’re working to ensure tires remain among the most recovered and recycled consumer products. Currently, materials from approximately 85 percent of all tires sold annually in the U.S. are reused. Most notably, Bridgestone developed a patented technology for recovering the fuel value and iron in tires for cement manufacturing, and then donated the patent for use around the world.
In addition to the reuse of tires for fuel, there are many other uses for tire material. Several leading uses of tire material include asphalt rubber, athletic fields, and porous paving.
- Asphalt Rubber - Ground tire rubber can be blended with asphalt to create a variety of modified materials for highway construction. Results include longer-lasting road surfaces, reduced road maintenance, lower road noise, shorter braking distances, and overall cost savings. This is the largest U.S market for ground rubber, using recycled material from more than 12 million end-of-life tires annually.
Arizona, California and Texas lead the country in using rubberized asphalt, and we’re working with the Rubber Manufacturers Association to encourage other states to adopt this remarkable technology. Ask your State Department of Transportation if they promote rubberized asphalt use.
- Athletic Fields - Using ground tires as loose cover for athletic/field turf applications is a growing market. Rubber playground surfaces, running tracks, grass-surfaced playing areas, and rubberized stadium playing surfaces consume more than 80 million pounds of recycled rubber annually. These surfaces offer high resiliency as well as high impact absorption for cushioning runners’ footfalls or protecting children from injury.
- Porous Paving – Firestone Flexi-Pave is a porous paving system made completely of recycled tires and aggregate held together by a moisture cured polyurethane binding agent. The "open-pore" design of Flexi-Pave provides for the fast evacuation of water allowing it to percolate back into the water table or, when used in conjunction with a Firestone geomembrane, allows the rain water to be harvested.
Recycled tire material has been used in small quantities in new tire production for years. We incorporate recycled tire material into new tire manufacturing, when its use enhances performance in manufacturing or on the road. Additionally, we continue research to find new and better ways to use recycled tire material in new tires.
Recycling your old tires is easy. When you buy new tires from any of our company owned or dealer owned retail locations, your old tires will be managed for you. We work with numerous tire recycling companies to send tires to the beneficial end-of-life uses described here.
You can find the nearest Bridgestone Americas retail location at the following website:
http://www.bridgestonetire.com/storelocator/storelocator_BS_EN.aspx
With the recent increases in fuel costs and focus on global warming, many drivers are looking for ways to be more fuel efficient for economic and/or environmental reasons. Hybrid vehicles are one option that drivers are increasingly choosing to address their concerns.
Hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) combine the benefits of gasoline engines and electric motors and can be configured to obtain different objectives, most notably improved fuel economy. This configuration requires tires that are constructed to provide maximum fuel efficiency.
Bridgestone Americas is proud to provide the original equipment (OE) for the following hybrid vehicle models: Toyota Prius, Lexus GS450h, Honda Insight, Honda Civic, and Toyota Camry hybrid. In May 2007, Lexus introduced its LS600h model and Bridgestone tires are the original equipment.
To read more about hybrid vehicles and fuel economy, please visit the following website: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/hybrid_sbs.shtml
To find out more about how you can purchase Bridgestone products, please visit:
http://www.bridgestone-firestone.com/.
