Introduction 

Think about every object you interact with in a day; what is it all made of? More likely than not, rubber. The majority of products the average consumer interacts with within a day are either made of rubber, have rubber parts, or are made with something that has rubber components. Over forty thousand products are made of rubber. Rubber is essential to live day-to-day life in the modern world, and we are running out of it. 

General overview

Rubber, a polymer extracted from Hevea Brasiliensis, has been used for many years. Twenty-five million tons of rubber are produced annually, with only 30% of rubber being grown naturally, and the remainder being synthetic rubber derived from petrochemical sources (“Natural Rubber,” n.d).

History of rubber

Rubber has been used for many years all over the globe. The first uses of rubber were in the 1800s with indigenous cultures in Mesoamerica (Arias & Dijk, 2019). Rubber became popular and sought after in the late 1900s after the first car was made. As a result, small towns in optimal conditions for the Hevea tree to grow became active communities. 

The owners of the land where the rubber was grown became rich. However, the money collected was not enough for the owners. The owners hired private armies to defend their land and trees and to expand their ownership and land. Due to the expansion of their land, Natives were being captured to become forced laborers. As stated in A Brief History of Rubber, by Wade Davis, “Young girls were sold as whores, while young men were bound, blindfolded, and had their genitals blasted off.” Then he went on to state, “As the Indians died, production soared: in the 12 years that Arana operated on the Putumayo River in Colombia, the native population fell from over 30,000 to less than 8,000 while he exported over 4,000 tons of rubber earning over $75 million.” During the expansion of rubber growth in Brazil, Southeast Asia was discovering more efficient ways of growing rubber that eventually ran Brazil out of the rubber business due to the cost of labor and the amount of labor being significantly lower in Southeast Asia.

A rubber plantation in British-ruled Java, Indonesia, in 1915. 

Figure 1 (Canales, 2019)

Importance and uses of rubber

More than forty thousand products are made from or have components that are derived from rubber. The most common uses for rubber are tires, medical equipment, sports balls and equipment, shoes, and many other items essential to our everyday life. One of the products most commonly used derived from rubber is conveyor belts. The polymer material segment in the conveyor belt market is poised to reach USD 4.5 billion by 2027 (Pulidindi & Prakash, 2021).

Why is there a shortage of rubber?

Southeast Asia’s rubber is becoming more of a cost than a profit for the industry's CEOs; profit margins are becoming smaller yearly to plant, harvest, and sell rubber. Due to this, growing rubber is no longer a desirable occupation, and the amount of rubber planted is decreasing yearly, making rubber scarce. As a result, companies are pushing for fixed rubber prices to support smallholders in developing countries.  (Swain, 2021). 

Natural rubber has many properties that synthetic rubber does not. For example, natural rubber has higher tensile strength, stronger resistance to tear, and does not have as potent a smell as synthetic rubber (Breiner, n.d). This deems naturally grown rubber more desirable due to its ideal properties and advantages over synthetic rubber, making it crucial to find a solution to the rubber shortages.

Rubber shortages during WWII 

Figure 2 (eBay, n.d)

Where can we grow rubber? 

If rubber costs go up in Southeast Asia, growing rubber can become profitable again. However, with this being said, Southeast Asia will need to resort to deforestation if they need to expand. On the other hand, Katrina Cornish, professor of bioemergent materials at Ohio State University, proposes a solution.

Southeast Asia is resorting to deforestation for growing rubber, and the price of rubber is becoming so low that it is no longer profitable, making rubber growth not optimal in Southeast Asia. Cornish proposes Arizona as an alternative growth site for rubber. In Arizona deserts alone, there are three million hectares (11,600 sq miles) of suitable land readily available to grow rubber (Swain, 2021). 

Guayule, the alternative to Hevea Brasiliensis that would be grown in Arizona, has been shown to have environmental advantages over Hevea Brasiliensis. Unlike Hevea Brasiliensis, Guayale is a low-input crop. In contrast to Hevea Brasiliensis, Guayale is hypoallergenic and can be harvested fully mechanized (“NRGene,” 2021).

Implications and Limitations

One drawback to growing Rubber in the US is that many places get too cold, and the rubber cannot grow. For example, Texas has the optimal temperature and growing conditions to grow rubber during the summer. Still, during the winter, Texas’s temperature lows are around 38 degrees, and the rubber would die at this temperature. Therefore, rubber would only be grown in Arizona, limiting available space.

Growing rubber in Arizona can be proven beneficial. However, the characteristics of the only rubber available to be grown in Arizona would be Guayule. This alternative has disadvantages to Hevea, being sensitive to low winter temperatures. Additionally, this plant is genetically inadvanced and would need a significant amount of effort to improve the quality and reduce water requirements.

Conclusion

Analysis of the implications, shortages, and solutions for rubber shortages, as well as the importance of rubber, are crucial in maintaining the way of living for citizens in all countries. This paper contains a general overview of rubber, the history of rubber, essential uses of rubber, causes for the shortages of rubber, a solution to rubber shortages, and implications and limitations.

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