![Weibold Academy: Life cycle assessment in the tire recycling and pyrolysis industry](/img/articles/lca-sm.jpg)
Weibold Academy: Life cycle assessment in the tire recycling and pyrolysis industry
Regardless of meandering political environmental protection trends, most Western companies today are embracing Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER) as a mandate that is integral to their corporate strategy and forms part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program. The automobile industry and its subset, the tire industry, is no exception. Consumer awareness represents pressure on corporate governance to continuously improve the environmental footprint throughout the life cycle of their products. Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) are one way of objectively quantifying and qualifying the effect that material and energy flows of a given product have on our environment, our health, our economies, and the way we live. LCAs also help design the products we and our customers manufacture, compare them to competitive solutions, and enhance their perception in the market. If performed properly, the investments that LCAs require can therefore ultimately translate into improved profit margins. This article examines the difficulties we encounter and gains we can realize when performing an LCA on an End Of Life Tire (ELT) derived product.