Environmental Responsibility

Our products are not just sustainable for the environment, but also for the health and well-being of all those that come in contact with them.

Three hands holding recycled rubber particles showcase Ecore's sustainability focus.

Environmentally Preferable Products

Ecore was born “green” and has been making smart choices for more than a century. Ecore started by harvesting the benefits of wood without harming trees (with Ecore cork products), and has evolved into mining waste streams for high performance raw materials, dominated currently by recycled rubber.

What Ecore does is actually goes beyond recycling, it is upcycling. Upcycling is the process of taking a material at the end of its life and converting it into something better instead of throwing it away. A tire’s main functions are to support a vehicle’s weight, provide traction, and absorb shock. When we transform tires into surfacing, we are able to harness those attributes and elevate them so that our surfaces provide MORE. More safety, more ergonomics, and more acoustics for the people interacting with our surfaces every day.

Ecore takes back more than we put in. Ecore diverted over 100 million pounds of truck tires from landfills in 2018 while only contributing 3 million pounds of waste to landfills. That’s a Net Landfill Diversion of 97 million pounds.

On average, our products contain 62% postconsumer recycled content.

Ecore’s Manufacturing

At Ecore we are committed to operating our business and facilities in a manner that uses resources wisely and protects the quality of our environment and the health and safety of our associates, families, and communities. Ecore goes to great lengths to ensure that the manufacturing process and resulting products are safe. Ecore prides itself on continuously testing and retesting products to maintain this level of quality. Ecore’s vertically integrated manufacturing capabilities include grinding, screening, removal of stone, wood, paper, fluff, fiber, and other materials from scrap tire rubber to produce exacting specifications that meet or exceed customers internal, external, and ASTM specifications. With our state of the art equipment, experienced staff, and 100 million pound capacity, Ecore is uniquely capable of producing the cleanest, most consistent, and highest quality material available in the market place.

Ecore’s manufacturing process has virtually no waste. Scrap material from our manufacturing process is collected and recycled back into our system because rubber can be continually recycled and does not degrade through the recycling process like paper or plastics.

Reducing Our Impact

As an industry leader in recycled products technology, our products are manufactured in state of the art production facilities where we focus on and strive to continually improve our efficiency and responsible resource management. To that end, we have developed energy-efficient manufacturing processes that does not includes smokestacks, uses minimal water and little or no heat, and we reuse our scrap to minimize waste.

Water Conservation

We employ a closed loop chilling system, re-circulating water rather than releasing it into the sewer system. This process allows us to conserve 17.5 million gallons of water each year and ensures that the absolute minimum amount of fresh water is used in our manufacturing facilities.

Air Quality Control

By selecting only the highest quality raw materials and developing a strict manufacturing process, Ecore is able to ensure that harmful emissions are not given off to employees or the environment. In addition, several of our products have earned FloorScore certification.

Recycling Efforts

Our products are packaged on wooden pallets and use recycled newspaper or cardboard for shipment. On-site recycling bins ensure that all other waste paper, cardboard, and plastic from incoming deliveries is diverted from area landfills as well. Our recycling efforts don't stop with our products or our manufacturing plants; Ecore actively recycles paper, plastic, and cans at its office facilities.

Energy Stewardship

At Ecore we have developed exclusive, state of the art equipment and manufacturing processes specifically designed to improve the quality of our products and increase energy efficiency. By incorporating these proprietary methods, we are able to use 40% less energy than standard industry procedures. The amount of natural gas we conserve each year could service 120 average American homes.

Ecore has adopted energy-efficient approaches to lighting our plants. We have changed light bulbs in our manufacturing facilities from fluorescent lights to highly efficient LED bulbs.

Rubber Crumb: The Facts

There have been questions about the safety of crumb rubber or recycled rubber chips. A number of states and associations in the U.S.A. have conducted independent, third-party tests that demonstrate, unequivocally, recycled rubber crumb poses NO RISK to people or pets. For more information, view these tests/studies.

Synthetic Turf Field Recycled Tire Crumb Rubber Research - EPA CA Study Proves Turf Safe: Cancer Epidemiology Journal Recycled Rubber Infill Safety Fact Sheet Natural Soil v. Recycled Rubber Recycled Rubber Information Packet Synthetic Turf Fields, Crumb Rubber, and Concerns about Cancer: Archie Bleyer, MD TIA Issues Position Statement Regarding the Use of Crumb Rubber Assessment of the Risk of Cancer Posed by Rubber Mulch Used in Playgrounds, by Dr. Laura C. Green, Ph.D., D.A.B.T. Connecticut Reaffirms Safety of Artificial Turf Manex and UC Berkley Issue Study on Recycled Rubber in Artificial Turf Applications EPA Study: 2016 U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Ecore is at the forefront of the recycled rubber movement and is a founding member of the Recycled Rubber Safety Council.

All our testing has proven that Ecore surfaces are fully compliant with all the regulations required by the EPA and other regulatory organizations – so, rest assured, recycled rubber is safe!

For more on our environmental certifications and transparency documents, please visit our Transparency & Certifications page.

Ecore also conducts its own testing to ensure our products are safe:

We test multiple samples yearly, for VOC’s (volatile organic compounds) according to the California 01350 test protocol, for FloorScore certification
We routinely test for Heavy Metals (and Lead in particular) to comply with the EPA and CPSIA (Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act), as well as REACH and RoHS regulations.
We also periodically test random samples for Semi-volatiles (PAH’s – polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), phthalates such as DINP, DPHP, etc etc., and PBBs (polybrominated biphenols)