At the Tire Technology Expo from March 19th to 21st, 2024, the Allianz Zukunft Reifen (AZuR) initiative impressed with numerous technical presentations in the conference program and with the large international turnout at the AZuR booth and the clear presence of the topics of Circular Economy and Sustainability throughout the event, confirming the network's efforts towards a sustainable tire circular economy.

The Tire Tech Expo is Europe's most important trade fair and conference for tire manufacturing technologies, with over 200 exhibitors. AZuR was represented at the accompanying technical conference with a total of 26 presentations by 12 network partners. Among others, Stephan Rau from the German Rubber Association (wdk) spoke about the sustainable improvement of Europe's road quality with recycled rubber asphalt, and Clemens Zimmermann (Marangoni) explained the ecological and overall economic benefits of retreading in his presentation.

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Clemens Zimmermann; Marangoni presented the ecological and overall economic benefits of retreading in his technical presentation. | Photo by AZuR.

Sustainable tire circular economy as a success model

The AZuR booth in Hall 19 was very well attended and was used by network partners as a meeting point to engage with interested parties from around the world. The significant support from international and reputable European companies, who want to support the network in further developing the Circular Economy, confirmed that sustainable tire circular economy is a successful model. "It is remarkable how the topics of Circular Economy and Sustainability ran through the entire event," says AZuR network coordinator Christina Guth. "Industry and companies in the tire manufacturing sector are increasingly engaging with these topics, and we welcome that," adds Christina Guth.

At the Tire Tech Expo, AZuR was able to demonstrate its quality as an international, forward-looking network and expects further new partnerships to emerge from the trade show appearance. The initiative also made it onto the shortlist for the Tire Technology International Awards with the topic "Material Innovation of the Year: Rubber Powder / Rubber Asphalt." "We missed the winner's podium, but that's an incentive for us for next year," comments Christina Guth.

About AZuR (Allianz Zukunft Reifen)

Since 2020, AZuR has been committed to a sustainable tire circular economy throughout Europe. Used tires should be reused or recycled as much as possible to avoid waste, reduce CO2 emissions, conserve natural resources, and protect people and the environment.

About 70 AZuR partners from industry, trade, and science cover all sectors of the sustainable Circular Economy of tires - from sustainable new tire production and certified collection of used tires to the repair and retreading of passenger car and commercial vehicle tires, to the material and chemical recovery of the raw materials contained in used tires.

In interdisciplinary teamwork, new paths and solutions are being developed for an ecologically and economically viable tire circular economy. The universities in the AZuR network play a special role in this. They provide valuable impulses with scientifically sound studies and research to close the material cycle.

At the TyreXpo Asia 2023 in Singapore, AZuR was awarded the Recircle Award in the Circular Economy category. In November 2023, AZuR received the "European Transport Sustainability Award 2024" for the study on the positive ecological balance of retreading. Find out more about AZuR here: https://azur-network.de.