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Wei Jianhuan, director of the infrastructure office of Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area commented on the road construction saying that rubber asphalt roads on average show greater durability in comparison with conventional paving which requires repairs every 3 to 5 years. They also result in significant traffic noise reduction.

This September, Robert Weibold attended the First International Cooperation Summit on Tire and Rubber Recycling in Kunshan, China, on 16 and 17 September 2019. The event gathered industry participants from all over China, as well as from the European Union, the United States and other countries. Proclaimed by Zhu Jun, the president of China’s Tire Recycling Association (CTRA), the motto of the summit was “Environment first, Resources second; no mercy to polluting technologies”. As he and many other speakers asserted, China had gone a huge transformation in the tire recycling industry over the last 10 years.

This summer, England started trials of the new rubberized asphalt developed from a mix that includes recycled tires. The asphalt mix is produced by a British company Tarmac. According to Tarmac, a new road surface using recycled tires is on trial on the M1 motorway by Highways England. If successful, it is hoped that this new method will take a huge step towards tackling the millions of end-of-life tires piling up every year.

A UK company Tarmac has launched a new asphalt producing system that uses processed scrap tires and develops roads with the recycled tire rubber. The innovative asphalt solution that contains granulated rubber comes at a time when the United Kingdom generates some 40 million scrap tires annually. The new method will allow reusing over 700 scrap tires for each kilometer of surfacing – this is expected to cut the amount of rubber waste that is being put on exports.

A Hungarian city of Zalaegerszeg in the Zala region will see the construction of a new rubber bitumen plant capable of recycling 20,000 tons of scrap tires annually; the facility is expected to become operative next year. The company behind the plant construction is the local energy and chemical company MOL. Moreover, the development is possible thanks to a huge investment allocated by MOL; at the same time, the State Enterprise Investment Support Program also provided partial funding to the initiative. In total, the sum of investment is estimated at 3 billion Hungarian Forint.

50 million scrap tires are generated annually in the United Kingdom. The authorities are now looking for the ways to prevent the tires from ending up at landfills. Thus, their road surfacing potential is being actively studied. Oxford County Council is seriously considering an option of applying crumb rubber rubber and rubber powder from tires to repair functioning asphalt surfaces. Earlier, the officials have conducted the Paco Patch trial for road repair that involved approximately 250 surfaces repaired in a sustainable way. Up until now, only two of all tested asphalt mixtures failed to meet expected outcome.

Evonik Rubber – speciality chemicals company dealing with scrap tire rubber – rubber modified bitumen based on scrap tires is gaining ground. The intensified search for better road durability and lower traffic noise, with both being environmental concerns, has meant an increasing market for rubber modified bitumen. The good news is that recycled tires can be successfully reused in production of such bitumen.

A Spanish waste tire management company Signus has released a report outlining the successful implementation of rubberized asphalt mixtures in Spain; the report considers almost all projects carried out in the country with the material since 1996 up to the first quarter of 2017. The report is of great value as currently there are over 1,600 kilometres of road works using crumb rubber from end-of-life tyres (ELT) in Spain.

Australian state of Victoria is now testing an innovative sustainable drainage technology for rubberized concrete called Equine Air after it was installed last summer at Pakenham Racecourse as a replacement to conventional road base. Equine Air is considered to be capable of improving track drainage and can be used even during bad weather. Moreover, when it is used in horse racing fields, it is said to be able to reduce the animals’ injuries when they fall thanks to special cushioned foundation.