Protecting The Daintree Rainforest - With Recycled Tyres
Over 100 old tyres collected by Bridgestone retail outlets across Australia have been recycled into environmentally-friendly bollards designed to protect threatened parts of the rainforest. Built to be weatherproof and long-lasting, the bollards’ purpose is to stop vehicles from damaging parts of the rainforest under regeneration.
“We wanted a long-lasting solution that would prevent
vehicles from entering our property and destroying
Daintree Rainforest seedlings”
Julian Gray
CEO of Rainforest Rescue.
With the help of tyre recycling company Molectra Technologies and Rainforest Rescue, Bridgestone has worked to create a barrier with both low visual and environmental impact.
Despite being a unique, biodiverse ecosystem unlike anywhere else in the world, more than two-thirds of the Daintree Lowland Rainforest remains unprotected.
“By achieving this, we would also prevent vehicles entering and
illegally dumping old tyres and treads in the forest.”
Andrew Moffatt
Bridgestone Australia and New Zealand Managing Director
“The fact that vehicles are accessing the Rainforest Rescue
property and hindering their Daintree conservation efforts by
destroying seedlings and illegally dumping old tyres is a serious
issue that we were eager to help address.”
Andrew Moffatt
Bridgestone Australia and New Zealand Managing Director
“It’s fantastic to see that a large corporate organisation like Bridgestone understands the importance of conserving Australia’s natural environment.” The project is another activity under Bridgestone’s Tomorrow Matters initiative, which seeks to find new and better ways of using technology; encourage our children to find solutions for tomorrow; and help ensure a healthy environment for generations to come.
“Bridgestone want to ensure that every end-of-life tyre that is returned to our stores is recycled in the correct manner. The production of the bollards is just a small contribution and a demonstration of how end-of-life tyres can be put to great use,”
Andrew Moffatt
Bridgestone Australia and New Zealand Managing Director
Rainforest Rescue is an Australian rainforest conservation charity set up in 1988 with the vision to Protect Rainforests Forever, visit here for more information.
It’s not often that you think about what happens to your old tyres once you leave them with your tyre fitter. They are recycled, sure, but did they go on to do something interesting with themselves?