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TNU (Tratamiento Neumáticos Usados) – a Spanish EPR agency for end-of-life tires – explains with its new informative campaign "Did you know that...?" the wide and innovative applications offered by the recycling of end-of-life tires. The recent TNU’s article emphasizes the importance of collecting and recycling used tires instead of leaving them in nature, as they take 1,000 years to decompose. The most environmentally friendly option is to reuse the tires for manufacturing new ones. If that is not possible, recycling plants extract and separate the different components of the tires, such as rubber, textile fiber, and steel, for recovery and repurposing.

The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) releases the Monthly NR Statistical Report, May 2023. According to ANRPC, as the tapping activities resumed, the global output increased by 0.3% in May to 1.006 million tons. Despite sluggish output growth, global NR consumption increased by 3.5% year-on-year to 1.272 million tons.

When end-of-life tires reach the end of their life cycle, they become hazardous for the environment and human health if they are dumped in landfills. Made of synthetic rubber, chemicals, and additives, these tires contaminate water and land, pose a high risk of fire, generate harmful gases when burned, and serve as breeding grounds for insect-borne epidemics. These concerns are particularly relevant in Mexico, where an estimated 32 million tires are discarded annually, equivalent to one tire per second. Unfortunately, only 12% of these tires are recycled, with the majority ending up in landfills.

Researchers from the University of Arizona are collaborating with Bridgestone Americas Inc. to develop a sustainable and resilient variety of natural rubber. The project focuses on guayule, a perennial shrub that can be grown in the arid conditions of the U.S. Southwest. The five-year, $70 million project, with $35 million funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and an equal match from Bridgestone, aims to transition growers from traditional crops to guayule. Partners in the project include the Colorado River Indian Tribes, Colorado State University, regional growers, and OpenET, a public-private partnership for responsible water management. Bridgestone has been working with guayule since 2012 and plans to expand its farm in Eloy to 20,000 acres, with a long-term goal of cultivating guayule on around 100,000 acres across the Southwest.

The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) has released the Monthly Natural Rubber Statistical Report for March 2023, which updates the outlook for the global natural rubber market based on the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) projections. The report states that global production of natural rubber is expected to grow by 2.7% to reach 14.916 million tons, while global demand is expected to contract by 0.4% to 14.912 million tons. In March, global natural rubber production decreased by 26.1% to 967,000 tons compared to the previous month, while global demand is estimated to increase by 7.9% to 1.306 million tons during the same period.

Apollo Tyres, the international tire manufacturer, is readying itself for sustainable mobility solutions. The company has now developed passenger vehicle tires with 75% sustainable materials. Apollo’s new sustainable product comprises many featured compounding ingredients in different components of the tires, including bio-based and recycled materials. The sustainable natural rubber, used in these tires, have been sourced from suppliers who have public commitments to sourcing and/or traceable to specific plantations, in accordance with the company’s sustainable natural rubber policy.

Bridgestone Americas (Bridgestone) announced that it has produced a run of demonstration tires made with 75% recycled and renewable materials, including synthetic rubber made with recycled plastics and natural rubber harvested from desert shrubs grown domestically, in the Arizona desert. The company has completed production of 200 demonstration tires and is pursuing joint evaluation with automakers for use on the next generation of electrified SUVs and crossovers (CUVs). The company’s relentless commitment to its goal of using 100% sustainable materials in its products by 2050 was underscored in remarks by Bridgestone Global CEO, Shuichi Ishibashi, during a February 16 briefing with media and industry analysts in Tokyo where Bridgestone also announced that it is pursuing a tire design utilizing 90% recycled and renewable materials for passenger cars.

Cabot Corporation (NYSE: CBT) announced the launch of EVOLVE™ Sustainable Solutions, a new technology platform for advancing sustainable reinforcing carbons. Cabot’s ambition through this technology platform is to develop products that offer sustainable content with reliable performance at industrial scale by leveraging circular value chains and materials recovered from end-of-life tires, and/or renewable and bio-based materials, and/or processes that reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Resulting from these efforts, Cabot has launched two new products which will be sold as the company’s first-ever International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC PLUS) certified solutions.

Zeppelin Systems entered into another important partnership in the mechanical recycling sector on February 7, 2023. The Italian Technology group formed by RubberJet and Vertech specialized in recycling particularly large scrap tires, for example from trucks and construction and mining machinery. High-quality rubber recyclates are made from scrap tires measuring up to four meters in size, which can later be used to manufacture new tires. According to Zeppelin Systems, the patented and proprietary method is 100% environmentally friendly. According to current figures from the AZuR network (innovation forum for scrap tire recycling, of which Zeppelin Systems is a member), around 3.5 million tons of scrap tires are generated in Europe each year. In Germany alone, around 550,000 tons of scrap tires were accrued in 2021. If every scrap tire in Europe was recycled, around 2.45 million tons of CO2 emissions would be saved.