News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

In Hamilton, New Zealand, developers have installed the country’s first footpath made with recycled tyres. The project at Jack’s Landing used 207 square metres of Porous Lane, a permeable rubberised paving developed by the University of Melbourne and introduced to New Zealand by Water Smart.

Vaculug has submitted a proposal to the UK Cabinet Office consultation Public Procurement: Growing British Industry, Jobs, and Skills, calling for retreaded tyres to be mandated in public sector fleets. The company argues that such a policy would cut costs, create jobs, and support national sustainability objectives.

Join key players across Australia and New Zealand for the inaugural 2025 Round Trip: Tyre & Conveyor Belt Recycling Summit on October 15–16 in Melbourne, Australia, hosted by Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA) and Tyrewise New Zealand. Over two days, manufacturers, recyclers, innovators, policymakers, and global industry stakeholders will connect to share ideas, explore global technologies, and uncover real-world market and infrastructure opportunities.

According to local media reports, the Punjab Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Pakistan has uncovered the secret nighttime operations of banned pyrolysis plants in Lahore, identified as a major contributor to the city’s worsening smog problem. The findings were published in the agency’s latest drone surveillance report.

Georgia Elliott-Smith, CEO of the environmental campaign group Fighting Dirty, has urged the government to work with the TRA if they truly want the Circular Economy to happen and address the climate change crisis. In her keynote address to the TRA conference, held today in Warwickshire, Georgia Elliott-Smith encouraged the government to prioritise the regulatory reforms the Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) are calling for, welcoming the practical approach of the five-step Road to Reform published this summer.

Mathe Group, a South African radial truck tyre recycler, has announced a multi-million-rand investment in advanced equipment to recover high-quality “clean steel” from end-of-life tyres. The new systems include a steel cleaning mill with automated packaging and several state-of-the-art de-beading machines, designed to increase efficiency, improve product quality, and expand export potential.

Gunvor, one of the world’s leading independent commodities trading companies, and New Energy (member of the NE-TECH Group), a Budapest-based technology company specializing in the advanced chemical recycling of end-of-life tires, are pleased to announce the signing of a strategic collaboration agreement aimed at jointly advancing the transition toward a circular economy.

Tyre Stewardship Australia (TSA) has highlighted that despite major new recycling facilities in Western Australia, more than 100,000 tonnes of mining tyres are still legally buried each year. The opening of Tyrecycle’s dedicated OTR tyre recycling plant in Port Hedland demonstrates the capability of industry investment, with the site already diverting 1,500 tonnes in its first year and designed to process up to 30,000 tonnes annually.

On 10 September 2025, the European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers Association (ETRMA) issued a statement welcoming the European Parliament’s adoption of the End-of-Life Vehicle Regulation (ELVR). The association underlined that this step brings greater regulatory clarity to the circular economy framework in Europe.