News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

Scandinavian Enviro Systems has resolved on a directed issue of 62.5 million new shares and 2.5 million warrants to Nordic Restructuring and Growth Capital 1 following the first SEK 5 million drawdown under the convertible loan agreement signed in August 2026. NRGC requested conversion of the entire first loan tranche immediately after the funds were disbursed, resulting in the issuance of new Enviro shares at SEK 0.08 per share and repayment of the SEK 5 million loan through set-off. The share issue increases Enviro’s outstanding shares from approximately 1.268 billion to 1.330 billion and results in dilution of about 4.7% for existing shareholders. The accompanying warrants have an exercise price of SEK 0.167 per share and could create an additional dilution of approximately 0.2% if fully exercised. Enviro said the financing arrangement is intended to provide liquidity during its ongoing company reorganization and support continued operations.

Birla Carbon has released its 14th annual Sustainability Report, “Sustainable – Work in Progress,” outlining progress under its Share the Future sustainability strategy and its ambition to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The 2026 report highlights advances in circular carbon materials, emissions reduction, water management, supplier due diligence and operational efficiency across the company’s global manufacturing network. Of particular relevance to the tire and recycling industries, Birla Carbon says its Continua™ Sustainable Carbonaceous Material has reached industrial scale in Europe and Asia, with production facilities in Italy and India now fully operational. The material is derived from end-of-life tires through pyrolysis and is intended as a circular alternative to conventional carbon black in applications including tires, mechanical rubber goods, plastics and coatings. Birla Carbon says it is on track to produce more than 100,000 tonnes of Continua SCM annually by FY2030, positioning circular carbon materials as an increasingly important part of its long-term sustainability strategy.

The German Rubber Industry Association, wdk, has warned that significant quantities of end-of-life tires continue to disappear from Germany’s documented recycling system, reducing the supply of secondary raw materials available to domestic recyclers. According to figures published by the association on October 14, 2026, Germany generated approximately 522,000 tonnes of end-of-life tires in 2025, while around 84,000 tonnes had an unknown destination. wdk suspects that at least part of this material, and potentially larger volumes, may have been exported outside the EU and subsequently burned or processed through poorly controlled pyrolysis operations. The association is calling for systematic nationwide tracking of end-of-life tire volumes and recovery routes, arguing that better traceability would strengthen the circular economy, improve feedstock security for recyclers and direct more material toward domestic recycling. At the same time, wdk highlighted a positive shift in treatment routes, reporting that 210,000 tonnes of tires were processed into granulate and rubber powder in 2025, almost three times the amount used for thermal recovery in the cement industry.

The UK Government has published a timetable for withdrawing the T8 waste exemption for mechanically treating end-of-life tires in England, a regulatory change long sought by the Tyre Recovery Association. Under guidance published by the Environment Agency and Defra on October 21, 2026, reforms are expected to come into force on January 6, 2027, subject to parliamentary approval, followed by a three-month transition period. The T8 exemption is scheduled to be withdrawn on April 6, 2027, after which operators mechanically treating waste tires will need an appropriate waste environmental permit or must stop the exempt activity. TRA welcomed the announcement after campaigning for removal of the exemption for around eight years, arguing that the light-touch regime has allowed non-compliant operators to compete with permitted tire recyclers and weakened investment in domestic end-of-life tire processing. The association describes the reform as an important first step toward improving the UK tire recycling market, while continuing to call for a shred-only export requirement for whole waste tires.

Blue Environment estimates that local governments spent approximately A$7.513 million cleaning up illegally dumped end-of-life tires during 2024–25. The national estimate covers around 245,000 tires, producing an average clean-up cost of approximately A$31 per tire.

Scandinavian Enviro Systems has obtained a waiver from Nordic Restructuring and Growth Capital 1 and approved a first SEK 5 million drawdown under the second facility of its convertible loan agreement. The financing comes while Enviro remains in company reorganization and is intended to support general corporate purposes and continued operations. The broader agreement, signed on August 26, 2026, provides access to up to SEK 100 million divided between a SEK 35 million facility primarily intended to finance the reorganization and a SEK 65 million facility for general corporate purposes. The latest drawdown required NRGC to waive conditions that would otherwise have required Enviro’s reorganization plan to become final and non-appealable and the reorganization itself to be concluded before funds could be released. The waiver applies only to this SEK 5 million tranche and does not change the conditions governing future drawdowns.

InnoVent Renewables has been selected by Mexico’s National Rubber Industry Association, Cámara Nacional de la Industria Hulera, to receive an award recognizing its contribution to circularity and responsible management of end-of-life tires in Mexico. The recognition will be presented during Expo Hule 2026, with Mexico’s Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources, SEMARNAT, expected to participate in the ceremony. InnoVent operates a continuous tire pyrolysis plant in Monterrey, Nuevo León, where end-of-life tires are processed into secondary products including recovered carbon black, tire-derived oil, recycled steel and rubber crumb. The award highlights the growing role of tire recycling and pyrolysis technologies in Mexico as the country works to improve management of end-of-life tires and retain more recovered materials within productive industrial value chains.

SIGNUS has marked its 20th anniversary by presenting a new corporate identity, a strategic plan and a revised organizational model designed to guide the next stage of end-of-life tire management in Spain. At an event in Madrid on October 16, 2026, the organization formally introduced SIGNUS Asociación, created to comply with Spain’s new regulatory framework and increase participation by affiliated tire producers in decision-making and governance. The new structure follows the requirements of Royal Decree 712/2025 and forms part of a broader shift toward greater transparency, participation, efficiency and circular economy development. SIGNUS also used the anniversary to recognize the companies, public administrations, research institutions, waste managers, workshops and other stakeholders that have supported tire collection and recycling during its first two decades, while outlining plans to strengthen collaboration, innovation and higher-value recovery of materials from end-of-life tires.

Ecomondo 2026 will return to the Rimini Expo Centre in Italy from November 3 to 6 with an expanded international profile, a broader Waste as a Resource exhibition area and stronger emphasis on circular economy policy, resource recovery, bioeconomy, digital technologies and sustainable manufacturing. The 29th edition of the Italian Exhibition Group event is being developed as an increasingly cross-sector platform connecting industry, institutions, researchers and policymakers working on the green, blue and circular economy. For recycling industries, including tire recycling and rubber recycling, the expanded waste and resource recovery focus is particularly relevant as European companies face tighter requirements around Extended Producer Responsibility, secondary raw materials, circular product design and domestic recycling capacity. Ecomondo 2026 will also increase the number of English-language conferences and international institutional participants, with discussions expected around the Circular Economy Act, Critical Raw Materials Act, RESourceEU Action Plan, bioeconomy policy and new EPR provisions.