As part of EU Green Week 2025, the European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (EuRIC) hosted a webinar "Driving Circularity: Unlocking the Potential of Tyre Recycling". The event brought together key industry figures and policymakers to address the persistent challenges surrounding the treatment of End-of-Life Tyres (ELTs) in Europe. While most ELTs are collected, nearly half are still incinerated or exported to third countries with less stringent environmental controls.

Julia Ettinger, Secretary General of EuRIC, opened the event by emphasizing the need for a shift from incineration toward material recovery and high-value applications. She reiterated the core message of EuRIC’s Tyre Recycling Manifesto, which advocates for a circular approach to ELTs.

Presenting the manifesto in more detail, Gabriel Gomez of EuRIC outlined five critical points: boosting demand through recycled content targets and public procurement, banning exports of unprocessed tyres, setting EU-wide end-of-waste criteria, implementing stronger eco-design regulations, and enabling traceability via digital product passports.

European Commission representative Florian Flachenecker pointed to opportunities in the upcoming Circular Economy Act to harmonize Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes and create market incentives, such as green public procurement and VAT exemptions for recycled content.

Catherine Lenaerts of Febelauto cited Belgium’s successful no-export policy as a model. GENAN’s Lars Raahauge called for better eco-design and export controls, while Conradi+Kaiser’s Georg Maxein urged for consistent chemical regulations to enable stable investments in circular products.

EuRIC concluded by reaffirming its commitment to accelerating sustainable tyre recycling solutions across Europe.

For full details, proceed to EuRIC’s press release.