RTA sends 'open letter' to Aussie prime minister, parliament

ERJ staff report (TB)

Tire Business staff report

Pacific Grove, California -- In an effort to drum up more support for retreading in the land down under, the Retread Tire Association (RTA) has sent an “open letter” to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, members of the Australian parliament and other select members of the country's government.

The letter, penned by Harvey Brodsky, managing director of Pacific Grove-based RTA, talks of the “economic and environmental benefits that can be achieved by promoting the use of retreaded tires by the motoring public in Australia and on all Australian government fleet vehicles.” In it he also points out that the use of retreads on government vehicles is “a smart way to help save taxpayers money, without sacrificing safety, performance or handling of the vehicles.”

The text of Mr. Brodsky's letter follows:

“Dear Prime Minister Gillard, all members of the Australian Parliament and selected other members of the Australian government:

As the Managing Director of the Retread Tire Association I want to bring to your attention the economic and environmental benefits that can be achieved by promoting the use of retreaded tires by the motoring public in Australia and on all Australian government fleet vehicles. Our association represents many retreaders throughout Australia, as well as in many other parts of the world.

The retread industry has come a very long way since the old days and although the word “retread” is often used pejoratively (Seen the sports or entertainment pages in your local newspaper lately?), there are retreads and then there are retreads.

Retreaded tires produced by today's top quality Australian retreaders look like new tires and perform beautifully, with a safety record as good as the very best new tires, and at a far lower cost. We hope you will take steps to aggressively promote the use of retreads on all Australian government vehicles as a smart way to help save taxpayers money, without sacrificing safety, performance or handling of the vehicles.

Retreads are also extremely environmentally friendly, with one of the highest post-consumer contents of any recycled product. Thanks to the retread industry in Australia and other parts of the world, many hundreds of millions of gallons of oil are saved every year.

Retreads are safely used on school and municipal buses, fire engines and other emergency vehicles, small package delivery vehicles such as FED EX, DHL, UPS and even many postal services, along with taxis and millions of other vehicles in Australia and the rest of the world.

We will be happy to be contacted by any government fleet manager in Australia who has an interest in learning more about how retreads can, and should, become a part of the tire program for their fleet. We maintain a speakers bureau along with a number of additional important ways we can assist any fleet manager in learning more about the many benefits offered by our Australian retreader members, including retread plant tours.

We offer this as a way for our Australian retreader members to help save taxpayers' money, and we hope you will take us up on our offer to help.

Sincerely,

Harvey Brodsky, Managing Director, Retread Tire Association

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Article from Tire Business (a Crain publication)