Fast Facts: Sustainable Natural Rubber

WHAT IS NATURAL RUBBER?

Natural rubber is derived from the sap of certain plants, predominantly the Hevea Brasiliensis tree. 

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS TO THE TIRE INDUSTRY?

Natural rubber is critical to manufacturing safe and durable tires.

WHY DOES THE U.S. NEED A DOMESTIC SUPPLY?

Over 90% of current natural rubber supply originates in Southeast Asia. 

The rubber tree is very susceptible to disease.   

Loss of this supply chain from Asia would exacerbate supply chain issues in the U.S., affecting tire production and defense capabilities.

HOW TO DEVELOP A DOMESTIC SUPPLY 

Incentivize the needed investments to help farmers adapt to planting rubber-producing crops.

Scale commercial processing facilities to extract the rubber and co-products from the plants.

Increase investment into public research of other domestic alternatives to Hevea natural rubbers.

Source: https://www.ustires.org/advocacy/sustainable-natural-rubber 

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