Commercial Tire Dealer™
“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.
Environmentally focused Pete’s Tire Barns goes green and saves money By Bob Ulrich
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ete 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. Enhance the environment and improve The vehicles are equipped your bottom line . . . 42 with road speed governors Goodyear launches truck service to prevent the trucks from network . . . 44
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