TIA appoints three members to advisory council

April 19, 2005

The Tire Industry Association (TIA) has made three new appointments to its Tire and Rubber Recycling Advisory Council (TRRAC).

They are Doug Barr, president, Barr Formulated Products, based in Wexford, Pa.; Denise Kennedy, vice president California operations for Waste Recovery West; and Monte Niemi, president, First State Tire Disposal, East Bethel, Minn.

Council members are selected from the tire and rubber recycling communities to represent a specific area of expertise and a geographic region within the country, says TIA.

Barr is one of the leading specialists in pigmented and protective coatings and sealants developed specifically for the recycled rubber industry. Barr, formerly with Bayer Corp., works with small- to medium-size rubber recycling companies to customize color formulations for recycled rubber mulch, safety surfaces, molded products and other applications.

Kennedy has more than 15 years of experience in the tire recycling industry ranging from stockpile cleanup analysis to the development of fuel and civil engineering products. Waste Recovery West collects, processes and recycles more than four million tires annually in Northern California for shipment to tdf, civil engineering and used tire markets.

Niemi's company, First State Tire Disposal, is widely recognized in Minnesota and the surrounding states for his research and work in using tire chips as lightweight fill, retaining wall backfill, thermal insulation and landfill drainage layers, TIA notes. He has constructed numerous projects and full-scale field trials using recycled tire engineered aggregate and has worked with Minnesota’s environmental and transportation agencies on research projects to investigate the effects of tire chips in various civil engineering applications.

TRRAC was formed nearly 10 years ago with a mission to “ensure the long term viability of tire and rubber recycling worldwide while pursuing economic and environmental benefits.”