Valorpneu, the Portuguese management entity of the Integrated System for the Management of Used Tires in Portugal, celebrates its 20th Anniversary this year. Since the beginning of its activity in 2002, Valorpneu has managed a network of operators that collect, recover, and recycle end-of-life tires.

By the end of 2021, Valorpneu had collected a total of 1,622,529 tons of tires that correspond, more or less, to 145 million tires. Of these tires, 1,570,294 tons were generated annually, and 52,235 tons were already in stock before the EPR scheme went into operation, in various locations across the country, and were integrated and treated by Valorpneu.

Of the 1,570,294 tons of tires generated, 269,930 tons (17.2%) were sent for retreading, 16,068 tons (1%) for reuse, 844,632 tons (53.8%) for recycling, 432,715 tons (27.6%) sent for energy recovery and 6,949 tons (0.4%) to other destinations, namely landfill, a destination that was allowed only for large tires until mid-2005.

In terms of the application of rubber granules derived from the recycling process, over these 20 years, synthetic lawns (41.7%) have been the priority destination, followed by various flooring materials (41%), the rubber industry (5.5%), insulation industry (5.3%), bituminous mixtures with rubber used on roads and airports (2.6%), equestrian floors (0.9%) and others (2.9%).

Valorpneu's third license began in 2018 and would end at the end of 2021, but was extended until December 31, 2022, by order of the Offices of the Secretary of State for Commerce, Services and Consumer Protection and the Secretary of State for the Environment.

Even in these last two years in which we have lived in an adverse context, due to the pandemic that devastated the world, Valorpneu continued its activity and provided unconditional support to all its partners.

Climénia Silva, CEO of Valorpneu, states that: “2021 was a year of recovery, with a more controlled pandemic context, a market with strong growth, profound legislative changes with an impact on EPR activity, new criteria, norms and rules to be published, a strong focus on prevention, R&D and innovation and reinforcement of the Valorpneu team.”

Valorpneu currently has 52 reception centers under contract, of which 43 are on the mainland, 1 in Madeira and 8 in the Azores.

Throughout its two decades of activity, Valorpneu has invested in research and innovation programs for the development of new technologies and new solutions for materials derived from end-of-life tires, enhancing the development of this sector.

Since the beginning of its activity until now, Valorpneu has invested approximately 1.7 million euros in R&D, including the Valorpneu Innovation Awards, the InovAção Award and, more recently, the NextLap Project, which this year will have its second edition. This is an innovation project, carried out in partnership with the consultancy Beta-i, specialized in the area, and which seeks large-scale solutions from the recycling of end-of-life tires, ready for the market, putting innovative “face to face”, the industry and 'experts'. We thus continue to contribute to a more sustainable future.

To learn more, please proceed to Valorpneu website.