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Michelin – one of the world's leading tire manufacturers – says in its press release from February 23, 2021 that it is committed to making automotive tires 100% sustainable by 2050. This is an ambitious but realistic target for the Group, which positions itself as a leader in sustainable mobility. Appearances can be deceiving, the company says. This adage definitely applies to Michelin’s tires, which are high-technology products made of more than 200 components. They’re much more complex than they appear, which means that ensuring that all the tire’s components are sustainable presents a significant challenge.

Since it was founded in 1962, Maris, a manufacturer of co-rotating twin-screw extruders, has claimed one of the leading positions in the research of new state-of-the-art applications for its products. With the aim of providing its customers with the widest range of choices, every mechanical component of Maris’ extruders are entirely in-house manufactured. Maris says it’s one of the few companies in the world able to <b>customize its co-rotating twin-screw extruders according to its customers’ specific needs and this is true also when it comes to rubber devulcanization</b>. Rubber devulcanization is a selective breaking process of an elastomer S-S and C-S bonds, which produces only a limited degradation of the polymeric structure (C-C bond).

A Dutch investment portal “Invest in Holland” says that a Canada-based company Tyromer is now building a pilot factory in Arnhem to bring its circular rubber products to the European market. Specializing in the devulcanization of rubber from scrap tires, Tyromer will fine-tune and exhibit its recycling technology at its new Dutch facility in order to sell the process to third parties. The company is one of the first in the Netherlands to give this hard-to-process residual product a high-quality new life, making it a valuable addition to the Dutch circular economy.

The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) releases its monthly publication, Natural Rubber Trends January 2021, available on its website. ANRPC says the outlook for world production of natural rubber (NR) is estimated to decline by 7.7%, year-on-year, to 12.782 million tons for 2020. The improved outlook for 2020 compared to the previous outlook published in last issue, is resulted from a better-than-expected production estimated from Thailand, India and Cambodia during the year. While the world demand for NR clocked at 12.827 million tons during 2020, contracted at 6.9%, year-on-year.

e-RubberCon is an international conference organized by the French Association of Rubber and Polymer Engineers (AFICEP) under the auspices of the International Rubber Conference Organization (IRCO) which AFICEP is a member of. As its name suggests, the conference is devoted to problems of rubber industry, including rubber and tire recycling, as this year its main motive is “Environment and Recycling: A Strategic Challenge for Rubber Materials.” This year, Robert Weibold – a tire recycling and pyrolysis expert from Vienna, Austria – speaks at e-RubberCon about “Challenges, trends and opportunities for end-of-life tires from a French perspective”. If you would like to connect with Robert Weibold, please send your inquiry at sales@weibold.com.

The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries released its monthly report where it says the world production of natural rubber (NR) contracted at 8.3%, year-over-year, to 11.376 million tons during the first 11 months of 2020 (January – November) and likely to fall by 8.9%, year-over-year, for December 2020. The outlook “Natural Rubber Trends & Statistics December 2020” says that the supply in 2020 is revised upward by 81,000 tons to 12.678 million tons compared to the outlook presented in the last issue. While the world production is anticipated to recover in January 2021 by producing about 1.192 million tons of NR against 1.056 million tons in January 2020.

In the article “Is the Road to Sustainable Asphalt Paved with Tires?” published on December 11, 2020 in the ASC Central Sceince, Raleigh McElvery – a contributor to Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society – writes that “Mixing waste rubber from scrap tires into asphalt binder is one way to make pavement more environmentally friendly.” The article touches upon the topic of environment and shows how rubberized asphalt from end-of-life tires proves to be more environment-friendly than the common asphalt concrete. McElvery writes:

The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC), recently released its report “Natural Rubber Trends & Statistics, October- November 2020”. The ANRPC says the world production of natural rubber (NR) fell by 8.5%, year-over-year, to 10.098 million tons during Jan-Oct 2020. Expecting a 10.8%, year-over-year, drop during Nov-Dec 2020, the production during the full year 2020 is expected at 12.597 million tons, down 9.0% from the previous year. ANRPC’s revised outlook represents a downward revision by 304,000 tons or 2.2 percentage points from the outlook for 2020 which ANRPC had reported in September 2020. The outlook reported in Sep 2020 was 12.901 million tons at 6.8% fall. In 2021, the world production is anticipated to recover by posting an 8.6% increase to 13.678 million tons. Even if it increases at the anticipated 8.6% rate, the output in 2021 will remain lower than that in 2019 (13.842 million tons) or 2018 (13. 839 million tons).

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.