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KIAS Recycling, the only end-of-life tire plant in Austria located in Ohlsdorf, dedicated to breaking down end-of-life car and truck tires into their constituent elements to create usable materials. Truck tires of various sizes clutter the area outside the company premises, alongside car wheels. Managing Director Christian Zirgoi notes that all that remains are tire shreds the size of a hand. At KIAS Recycling's tire recycling plant, the tires undergo shredding, grinding, and sieving processes, enabling the separation of their individual components: spring steel, textile fibers, and rubber, which is then processed into flour or granules.

Around 200,000 tons from Germany exported old tires per year are mainly used in the Middle East as fuel in cement works. Around 140,000 tons of CO 2 emissions are released. The Alliance for the Future of Tires (AZuR) is therefore calling on responsible federal and state politicians to immediately ban the unregulated incineration of German export tire waste in non-EU countries.

AZuR members will take the opportunity to present itself at the Tire Technology Expo in Hanover. The leading European trade fair for the design and production of tires from March 19th to 21st, 2024 is all about sustainability. AZuR's stand C500 will be located in the Academic Corner. The over 220 exhibitors in Hanover also include the AZuR partners HF MIXING GROUP, Italmatic Group, Marangoni, Synthos and Zeppelin Systems GmbH. This year, AZuR is more strongly represented than ever with 26 presentations from 12 partners

One of the milestones of the new year for AZuR is the establishment of a new, interdisciplinary project group. The fourth AZuR project group, initially consisting of 11 partners under the leadership of Martin von Wolfersdorff, aims to generate fresh ideas for the chemical recycling of used tires. Interdisciplinary AZuR project groups are intended to advance innovative recycling methods for used tires. Currently, there are already project groups focusing on retreading, material recycling of used tires, and rubberized asphalt. The composition of these groups, with partners from industry, trade, and academia, is chosen to incorporate as many relevant aspects and perspectives on a topic as possible.

German tire recycling organization AZuR reports that while car and truck tire are being produced, rainforests are being destroyed. Manufacturers require rubber, leading to the emergence of more natural rubber plantations at the expense of untouched forests. Although some alternatives exist, AZuR says, the tire industry remains entangled in opaque supply chains.

With new European partners, Allianz Zukunft Reifen (AZuR) is gaining additional expertise in pioneering technological fields of the tire circular economy. Among AZuR’s new partners is now Weibold – tire recycling and pyrolysis consulting company from Austria. Beside this, AZuR-Network joined: The Bavarian CTS Bitumen is the technology leader in the rubber modification of bitumen for road construction.

The second AZuR colloquium at the TH Köln Gummersbach campus brought together 18 scientists to discuss innovative methods and possibilities for recycling end-of-life tires (ELTs). Scientists from various universities and institutes presented current studies and research projects in areas such as microwave-assisted devulcanization of rubber, ecosystem development for a circular tire replacement business, and the activation of rubber waste for secondary raw material production.

AZuR reports that the practice of retreading tires in Europe is encountering a new challenge. An increasing influx of tires imported from the Far East is increasingly displacing them. Over the span of ten years, the market share for retreaded truck tires has decreased from 34.2% in 2012 to 20.1% in 2022, as per ETRMA data. This shift holds significant implications for both the environment and the climate. Retreaded tires in Europe offer the same quality, safety and durability as comparable new tires, as well as clear environmental benefits. The retreading here in Europe not only reduces long transport distances, but also reduces CO2 emissions in production by over 60% and energy consumption by about 50%.

Episode 53 of the Tyre Recycling podcast features industry experts Paul Lloyd and Dan Hutchinson from WF Recycle-Tech. As Directors of the company, they share insights on their pyrolysis system they haveve developed, which has the potential to become another key player in the field.