Being on tour as a brand ambassador with OTS is like being on tour as a rock star. Sometimes life on the road gets hard, hectic and tiring; no pun intended. But when we arrive at a new festival or event and it comes time to activate, you forget about everything else and get in the zone.

It’s a zone that I can only imagine is what it feels like to play in front of a sold out crowd. You captivate each visitor the same way a rock star captivates fans all the way from the front row to the nose bleeds. But I’ll take being a recycled tire rock star over a regular ol’ rock star any day of the week, because there is no reward greater than changing how visitors think about used tires and the future of our planet.

Ontario is very large province, with people coming from many different backgrounds and perspectives. However, in all our travels it has become very clear that all Ontarian’s have one thing in common – they believe that recycling old tires just makes sense!

Throughout the RethinkTires tour, many people have approached the booth to shake our hands and thank us for the excellent work that OTS has done so far. They leave the booth even more impressed when they learn about all of the innovative recycled tire products created from used tires.

In Kemptville, we met one gentleman whose reaction I’ll never forget. He looked like a child on Christmas morning when we explained the process of collecting the old tires, distributing them to recyclers and manufacturing them into products he can use for his home and garden. The whole time he kept raising his hands above his head saying, “Wow, this is amazing!” It truly was an awesome feeling to see someone that excited about recycling tires.

The RethinkTires RoadTrip, along with the other education programs led by OTS, are helping bring forth the idea that the life of a product shouldn’t end in a landfill, it’s the start of a new journey. By helping ensure that resources are recycled and reused rather than filling up landfills, OTS should really have ALL Ontarian’s saying, “Wow, this is amazing!”

This new way of thinking has to be demonstrated by my generation so its core message reaches the next generation. And I’m so glad to be part of this tour to help lead the change. Hopefully our message will be heard and will inspire more people to become recycled tire rock stars.