Natural Rubber - Non-Renewable?

[lilchezza]

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Hey, would any one happen to know if natural rubber is a non-renewable resource? I was under the impression that it was, as the main place that natural rubber is obtained from is some tree... therefore if there were no more trees, there would be no more rubber. However, a few sites seem to disagree with me and yea

[priesty]

Raw rubber is a naturally occuring addition polymer. It is obtained by collecting sap from the rubber tree. It is the polymer of 2-methyl-1,3-butadiene (isoprene)

So from this I gather that its non renewable. However, to overcome these issues that have started polymerising butadience and styrene to form synthetic rubber which is a renewable resource I believe.

Perhaps if you give us the URLs of those sites that disagree?

[[Damo]]

Hmmm. I think it is renewable to a CERTAIN extent. I wouldn't say totally renewable. Like wm said, its naturally occuring addition polymer.
Due to demand and what have you, the natural sources can't keep up with demand etc. so this puts strains on the natural production.
it's sorta like ethanol. Is that renewable? same principle. Its renewable to a certain extent.

[doobee]

Hey.
My chem teacher uses it as an example too. I didn't think it was non-renewable (though apparently it is) but it does come from a tree. The tree is found only in tropical areas and so rubber began to be used when the Europeans began to colonise the rest of the world. Obtaining and processing natural rubber is a very labour intensive job and because of WWII (war in Malaya and Burma meant that no one could harvest the rubber there) there was so much demand for rubber that there was a shortage. Anyway so then they invented this chemical called SBR (Styrene-Butadiene Rubber) as a replacement and theyve made lots more variations since. Hope that helps!

[lilchezza]

Hey thanx for your help, that does make it clearer now - that it is renewable to a certain extent. I just found one of the sites I had looked at and it says;
"natural rubber should be available indefinitely from renewable plant resources." So obviously I didn't read it correctly .

[tristambrown]

if it grows on trees it IS renewable regardless of how long the tree takes to grow or any other factors ... wether it is ecenomicaly(spelling?) viable to use this as a recource is relevant in answering the question but certainly does not change the fact that it is renewable.

Synthetic rubber on the other hand comes from oil from the ground that will not "regrow" & is therefore NOT Renewable.

[.deimonic]

Originally Posted by lilchezza

therefore if there were no more trees, there would be no more rubber

Well by that logic oxygen shouldn't be a renewable source either and we should all be dead. I think renewable means it takes an exceedingly long time to replace, so much that it is deemed near impossible to replace it. (i.e. fossil fuels take millions of years). By that definition synthetic rubber should also be a renewable source.

[benji6667]

my understanding is that it is a renewable resource(seeing its extracted from plants, using energy from the renewable sun)... BUT in a commercial sense its not renewable seeing the amount of time and land required to meet demand is not feasible (too expensive, environmental issues etc etc..)

[JamesTockuss]

It is renewable since it is obtained from the Para Rubber tree, which can be regrown. The problem in the modern world however is that demand far exceeds supply of natural rubber. So while it is renewable, the demand is too much for it do suffice.

[TCCPICHAMP]

I would say that IT IS renewable, but it IS NOT sustainable

[yer8899]

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