The Swedish Tyre Recycling Association – SDAB or Svensk Däckåtervinning AB – recently issued its annual report 2020 where it reflects upon what the greatest challenge for sustainability is and how to overcome it. In the press release, it stresses that humanity’s power to impact the ecosystem, an impact which is often more negative than positive, has led the Swedish Tyre Recycling Association to devote its Annual Report 2020 to this theme.

In December 2019, Svensk Däckåtervinning presented its White Paper on sustainability, which is primarily based on the idea of extending the service life of materials in a new way, thereby reducing the load on the planet of the extraction of new materials. SDAB’s Annual Report for 2020 further develops this approach.

In 2020, 84,574 tonnes of end-of-life tyres were collected. The Report explains how these are dealt with today, and also describes how responsible tyre recycling should be developed to benefit both the community and the environment.

Ultimately, sustainability is about respecting and protecting what is unique on earth; the life which arose about 3.8 billion years ago, and which has evolved into more and more complex lifeforms whose continued existence depends on a biodiverse ecosystem. The deeper we investigate this, the more difficult it is to see where one life form ends and another begins.

“If you start from the perspective of the ecosystem, however, other environmental issues fall into place. It makes it easier to evaluate how we actually recycle tyres", says Fredrik Ardefors, CEO, Svensk Däckåtervinning.

“To achieve this perspective, we carefully analysed different applications where recycled tyre material are used, needs and functions that tyre material fulfils. Having done that, we are now looking at how the material can be used to provide the required benefits, along with the available alternatives and the impact that they, in turn, would have. But it must be borne in mind that these are complex relationships, so we see it as particularly important to begin with an examination and discussion on these issues", says Jonas Roupé, a member of the Board of Directors of Svensk Däckåtervinning and co-author of the Annual Report 2020.

Svensk Däckåtervinning hopes that the Annual Report will inspire and the reader, promote interest, curiosity and constructive debate.

"We hope that it will lead to an exchange of knowledge providing us with an opportunity to deepen our understanding of the complexity of the ecosystem and so making it easier to decide on when, where and how tyre recycling can be optimised, without negatively affecting the conditions for other life forms and for the people who come after us", says Fredrik Ardefors.

Annual Report 2020: Focus on the Ecosystem

Report by SDAB is available for download here.

Press release by SDAB.