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Tyre Stewardship Australia – an end-of-life-tire management authority in Australia – reports that it partnered with Puma Bitumen for crumb rubber ‘game changer’ for Australian roads sector. The equivalent of more than a million used car iyres can now be recycled to make high quality crumb rubber bitumen for Australian roads in a ‘game changing’ partnership between Puma Bitumen and Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA). Through two significant equipment investments – partly funded by TSA – Puma Bitumen has dramatically expanded its manufacturing capacity and widened the range of crumb rubber technology for both sprayed seals and asphalt currently available in Australia.

In 2021, the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is continuing undertaking efforts to ban crumb rubber – recycled rubber granulate from shredded end-of-life tires – from artificial turf and playgrounds. ECHA’s intent to restrict the use of crumb rubber started back in 2019 when the organization, allegedly, found a scientific evidence against the use of recycled tire rubber in synthetic turf. Despite ECHA’s assertions, there hasn’t been a single scientific proof of human health risks caused by crumb rubber in other studies and research carried out by numerous research institutions worldwide.

Episode 21 of the Tyre Recycling Podcast features Jon Visaisouk from Canadian Tyromer – a successful devulcanization company who also expanded its operations to Europe

The European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (EuRIC) calls upon the Commission to strengthen its commitment to the Circular Economy. The news was originally published by the Recycling Magazine; please see the full article here. With the release of ECHA´s opinions on infill materials, now it is up to the Commission to take a decision on what measures to follow as regards this application.

On February 2, 2021, The Morrison and McGowan Governments in Western Australia announced $70 million in joint funding that is expected to drive a more than $174 million recycling boom in Western Australia. Minister for the Environment Sussan Ley, Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management Trevor Evans, and WA Minister for the Environment Stephen Dawson announced the funding under the Recycling Modernisation Fund (RMF) program. $20 million from the RMF and $15 million from the State Government will leverage investments across eight new projects processing approximately 140,000 tonnes of Western Australian plastic and tyre waste every year. The Western Australian Government remains committed to awarding $5 million in industrial zoned land in the future.

The Committee for Socio-economic Analysis (SEAC) has adopted its opinion on a landmark restriction proposal, which would ban microplastics in products such as cosmetics, detergents, fertilisers and could lead to a ban of its use as soft infill on artificial turf sports pitches. It would prevent the release of 500 000 tonnes of microplastics into the environment over 20 years. The adoption of SEAC’s opinion follows an earlier opinion by the Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) in June 2020. Both committees concluded that an EU-wide restriction under the EU’s chemicals legislation REACH is the most appropriate means to address the risks of billions of small, solid plastic particles polluting our environment. SEAC also concluded on the expected benefits and costs to society of the proposal.

In December 2020, the European Recycling Industries’ Confederation – the umbrella organisation for European Recycling Industries – published a brochure on mechanical tire recycling highlighting the organization’s contribution towards circular economy and climate neutrality. EuRIC Brochure presents key facts about mechanical end-of-life tire recycling, which is a major enabler of circularity and climate mitigation for the entire tire value chain. The Brochure describes the current state of play of ELT management with recommendations to overcome key challenges faced by the European mechanical tire recycling industry be them embedded in legislation, market failures or eco-design. It features key numbers outlining the economic importance of the ELT recycling sector as well as its benefits for the environment and society.

An e-magazine Truck&FleetMe.com reports that the Abu Dhabi Waste Management Center (Tadweer) has opened its expanded used tire recycling facility in Abu Dhabi with a capacity to treat 70,000 tons of end-of-life tires annually. The project was built in partnership with a private sector company Tarheel to ensure the safe disposal of used tires for minimizing environmental and public health risks. A statement from Tadweer said the private sector partner it has contracted with is Tarheel Collecting Wastes LLC, an Abu Dhabi-based firm with over 10 years of expertise in waste management and environment services. Under the partnership, Tarheel collects and cleans used tires prior to their recycling and treatment at the dedicated facility, which has recycled nearly 17,000 tons of tires this year until the end of the third quarter. Tarheel has set up a new integrated automated plant in collaboration with its Italian partner to increase its total facility capacity to 100,000 tons annually.

Tyrecycle – an Australian end-of-life tyre recycling company – moves to expand its operations in Sydney with a new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant. Australian e-magazine Waste Management Review reports that Australia’s leading tyre recycler, Tyrecycle is gearing up for a purpose-built multi-million dollar rubber crumb manufacturing plant in Sydney, following significant growth in the uptake of its products produced from end-of-life tyres. Tyrecycle Chief Executive Officer Jim Fairweather says the move is to cater for strong demand over the past two years, with the company experiencing a 30 per cent growth in sales of rubber crumb.