News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

South African tyre recycler Mathe Group has made a significant investment to upgrade how steel is recovered from end-of-life truck tyres, transforming what was once a low-value by-product into a premium export material. The company has commissioned new processing equipment that will allow it to extract and package hundreds of tonnes of clean steel each month for international markets, strengthening the economics of large-scale tyre recycling.

Continental Tyres has warned that a lack of awareness around used tyre disposal is leading to retread-suitable carcasses being wasted, while some fleet operators may also be missing out on potential financial rebates by failing to return used tyres to manufacturers. The company highlighted retreading as a key tool for managing the volume of waste tyres generated by UK fleets each year. In a Continental-commissioned survey of more than 700 UK-based fleets, 26.8 per cent of respondents said they did not know whether they had an agreed disposal method in place for used truck and bus tyres.

The Tyre Emissions & Sustainability USA Conference brings together the brightest minds in tyre innovation, sustainability and regulation. From material scientists and engineers to policymakers and environmental leaders. Since 2018, Emissions Analytics has convened experts from industry and academia to tackle one of mobility’s toughest challenges: how to design, manufacture and manage tyres that are both high-performing and environmentally responsible.

As the Company is commercializing operations at its Hawkesbury TDP (“Thermal Decomposition Process”) facility, focus is now shifting on its next commercial project: a 6-reactor TDP facility in Shamrock, Texas, projected to be three times the size of its Hawkesbury facility. The Company recently received confirmation that it secured sufficient feedstock to sustain its proposed operations in Shamrock. Multiple letters of intent have been executed with tire retailers and municipalities confirming committed volumes of end-of-life tires.

Ecolomondo Corporation announced that it had reached an agreement in principle for financing of $2.7 million with Export Development Canada (EDC) to support additional capital investments and working capital at its Hawkesbury Thermal Decomposition Process (TDP) facility. The financing was intended to support the ramp-up of operations at the Hawkesbury plant. Ecolomondo and EDC had been in negotiations for several months and agreed in principle on loan conditions designed to ensure sufficient liquidity to reach full operational capacity.

The European Tyre Recycling Association (ETRA) has announced the call for papers for its 31st Annual Conference on Tyre Recycling, which will take place from 24–26 March 2026 in Brussels. The conference theme, "Tyre Recycling: Is the Future Circular?", will explore industry priorities and the expanding opportunities for recycled tyre materials in both established and emerging markets. The programme will examine how the sector is evolving amid shifting EU policy dynamics and broader economic and industrial pressures.

The Synthetic Turf Council (STC) has announced a call for educational session proposals for the 2026 STC Annual Conference, with the submission deadline extended to 23 January 2026. The conference will take place from 26–28 October 2026 at the InterContinental San Antonio Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas. The STC Annual Conference is the organisation’s flagship event, bringing together hundreds of professionals from across the synthetic turf sector to exchange knowledge, research findings and practical experience. The programme is designed to support informed discussion on the role of synthetic turf systems in communities, schools and public spaces.

With a decades-long reputation in the sustainable and environmental infrastructure sector, ECP has owned Liberty since April 2021 and along with Liberty's management team drove the transformation of Liberty into a national, vertically integrated tire management business. Liberty is the leading coast-to-coast tire recycling platform in North America, providing critical, compliant collection and recycling services through a network of more than 50 facilities nationwide. Each year, Liberty collects and processes over 215 million end-of-life tires, converting them into reusable materials that support industrial, commercial, and consumer markets. Liberty's innovative, sustainable tire-derived products play a vital role in advancing circular economy solutions.

AZuR's Christina Guth calls for a rethink in tyre recycling End-of-life tyres were presented not as waste, but as valuable secondary raw materials in the latest edition of the video series “66 seconds for the future” by forum future economy. In the video, Christina Guth, coordinator of AZuR (Allianz Zukunft Reifen), outlined how a well-functioning tyre circular economy could play a meaningful role in resource conservation, CO₂ reduction and the advancement of a genuine circular economy.