August 29, 2011
Environmentaloly focused
Pete's Tire Barns goes green and saves money
By: Bob Ulrich
“There’s more than a mile of copper wire that connects the solar panels to the grid on our retread plant,” says Pete Gerry, owner of Pete’s Tire Barns, one of the largest commercial tire dealerships in the U.S.
Pete Gerry, owner of Pete’s Tire Barns Inc. in Orange, Mass., saves more than three million gallons of fuel per year thanks to his company’s green initiatives. He also recycles 360,000 pounds of polyurethane and close to half a million pounds of rubber annually.
“It’s a direction we’re all going in order to survive, and it’s not as hard as it seems,” he says.
Being environmentally conscious also has improved his commercial dealership’s bottom line by millions of dollars a year. He earns $750,000 just by recycling batteries, building materials, metal (think wheel weights, brass valves and wheels), wood, rubber, polyurethane, plastic, cardboard, even ink and toner.
“We used to pay 15 cents a pound to have the polyurethane put in a landfill. Now we grind it into dust, mix it in with virgin material and resell it.”
All the recycling has helped reduce waste disposal from $1,500 to $193 a month.
Each of his 16 stores produces less than one cubic yard of waste a week (compared to four to six cubic yards a week previously).
Gerry recently installed 850 photovoltaic solar panels on his retread plant. The panels cost $1,000 each, but they will power the facility with 170.10 kilowatts per hour of clean energy.
His main warehouse also utilizes solar panels — and electric forklifts. Just by reducing the temperature in the distribution center in the winter from 60 degrees Fahrenheit to 50 degrees F, the company saves roughly 8,000 gallons of heating oil per year.
As you might expect, Gerry gives his fleet of 14 box trucks the green treatment as well.
All ride on Michelin XZA3 fuel-efficient steer tires. When it’s time to retread the drive and trailer tires, he uses Bandag Fuel Tech precure treads.
The vehicles are equipped with road speed governors to prevent the trucks from traveling at more than 65 mph. They also can’t idle for more than three minutes.
All fleet service truck bodies are aluminum so that they may be re-used. Gerry estimates the lighter weight saves 1,100 gallons of gas a year.
The lift gates are galvanized to reduce the need for replacement due to the material’s resistance to rust. This also eliminates the need for yearly painting, which reduces emissions.
“We have ongoing driver training programs on reducing fuel consumption, with savings upward of 30%. We are developing a program that will identify drivers who are able to attain fuel saving and sharing a percentage of those savings with the driver.”
And his customers have taken note of his efforts.
“Lots of our customers are interested in partnering with you if they can advertise that you are green.”
Gerry says he is not done yet. He hopes to decrease his fossil fuel usage to zero(!) and turn his more than 100 company vehicles into an electric fleet.
“It takes a lot of time and planning, but at the end of the year, all those little things add up.”
Embrace the environment and improve your bottom line – 32 money-saving tips from Pete’s Tire Barns
Pete’s Tire Barns Inc. may be the most environmentally friendly commercial tire dealership in the world. Recycling is almost an obsession with owner Pete Gerry, who has embraced all things green, from fuel-efficient tires to solar panels..
Here is a list of some of the initiatives he has undertaken.
For a full list, visit www.greenretreads.com.
1. Our retread facility will save over one million gallons of oil this year. It takes approximately 29 gallons of oil to build a new tire and seven gallons to produce a retread.
2. Our retread facility will save approximately 160,000 gallons of oil this year by performing major repairs on truck tires and returning them to service.
3. We will recycle approximately 360,000 pounds a year of polyurethane to be used in our flat-proofing process, with a savings of approximately 18,000 gallons of oil per year.
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