Friday, 12 April 2013

Recycled Rubber Mats – Where and How


            Recycled rubber is the new trend in manufacturing mats. Almost all rubber production houses have come up with a way to reduce toxic rubber waste by giving them some productive use instead. Used automobile tires are the best in terms of re-usability and durability. We use mats almost everywhere these days and in various forms. At home, we use them as doormats at the entrance or water absorbent mats outside the bathroom.
            We see them so often that we take them for granted and don’t stop to think how they make our lives easy and help us get things done while avoiding a lot of fuss. When smoothened out and flattened, rubber is capable of providing grip and limited friction at the same time. The best example of this is the mouse pad. It is the most regularly used flat surfaced smoothened out sheet of rubber, simply because almost every third person has access to a computer. 
           Mouse pads not only allow easy movement but also keep the bottom of the mouse scratch free. Recycled rubber mats are also used as floor mats in automobiles, especially cars. They protect our feet from the raw steel finishes of the floor which would otherwise be exposed of it weren’t for the mats. The floor mats in a car also help regulate temperature, especially when the air conditioning is on. If the steel and iron floor were exposed, the whole car would turn freezing cold in a matter of minutes because iron and steel are known to absorb heat as well as cold temperatures.
          Recycled rubber mats are not just an alternative; they are environment friendly and represent the ultimate re-usability of recycled waste. Maybe next time we come across a rubber mat, we’ll take a second to think about where it came from and how it got there. 

Monday, 11 March 2013

Recycled Rubber Mats


A rubber mat is a very common object in households today. Every household uses at least one kind of rubber mat for some purpose or the other. The most common usage is in the form of a doormat at the doorstep. A mat is a flat piece of material that is used as covering or provides a surface to work on. But other just being floor-mats, rubber mats have other uses as well. 

Mats come in all sizes – small enough to be used as mouse pads, and large enough to be used in a car to cover the floor. Even the grips of pens are a kind of mat. In the gym, they are used as anti-vibration mats, the kind that covers the boxing ring floor. They can take a lot of weight and minimize vibration and prevent the weight from bouncing back, they work similar to shock absorbers. In the industrial sector, mats made out of rubber are used in making conveyor belts to transport raw materials from one machine to the other.

Rubber mats today come with an Eco friendly manufacturing process, the result being the Recycled Rubber Mat. The most widely known method of rubber recycling involves vehicle tires. Once the tires of vehicles are completely worn out and declared unfit for use, they are recycled and used in other products such as rubber-based balls (Basketball), shoe products and making rubber bumpers and mats. Tires are among the largest sources of waste due to their continuous production and use. They can create health hazards if not disposed of properly. Rubber is said to be the most reused waste material as they are both flexible and resilient and fit to be used in other products.