News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

The European Recycling Industries’ Confederation (EuRIC) gathered more than 100 participants, from policymakers, recyclers and NGOs in Brussels on 18 April 2023 for its first conference dedicated to tire recycling. According to EuRIC’s press release, many speakers called for immediate actions. Poul Steen Rasmussen, President of EuRIC Mechanical Tire Recycling (MTR) and Group CEO of Genan, stressed in his opening remarks: “Tire recycling ticks many boxes, it saves critical resources that Europe would otherwise import, thus contributing to Europe’s strategic autonomy. It reduces the carbon and energy footprint and supports the EU’s ambition to carbon-neutrality. Yet, EU policy should do more to support tire recycling. To achieve the ambitious goals, set out in the Green Deal, it is essential that stakeholders from the entire tire value chain work closely together to solve sustainable problems and increase the use of recycled materials from tires in many different applications, including new tires!”.

Last year, Tyre Recycling Solutions (TRS) – an innovative tire recycling company from Switzerland – announced the official inauguration of the new TyreXol™ MMA production line at facilities of Renecal, in Guardo (Palencia, Spain). The common project between TRS and its recycling partner, Renecal, has gone further. According to Renecal, Spanish company COLLOSA has carried out the reinforcement of the LE-6517 road of the Diputación de León, in the municipality of Cabreros del Río, with a mixture type SMA 11, with a 6% endowment of bitumen and 1% Tyrexol MMA 30, with a spectacular result and great facility for manufacturing and implementation.

Apollo Tyres, the international tire manufacturer, is readying itself for sustainable mobility solutions. The company has now developed passenger vehicle tires with 75% sustainable materials. Apollo’s new sustainable product comprises many featured compounding ingredients in different components of the tires, including bio-based and recycled materials. The sustainable natural rubber, used in these tires, have been sourced from suppliers who have public commitments to sourcing and/or traceable to specific plantations, in accordance with the company’s sustainable natural rubber policy.

To create a custom tire for the brand-new concept car, the Lancia Pu+Ra HPE, Goodyear was chosen as the supplier of choice. Customization, aerodynamics, and design are at the core of the most recent partnership between Goodyear and the revived Lancia brand. Lancia Concept is the first vehicle of the new Lancia era, a 100% electric concept car that represents the vision of the brand in terms of design, interior home feeling, sustainability, electrification and technology.

The German engineering and trading company Waste Desorp GmbH of Bad-Malente and the Polish MetalERG sp.z.o.o spk of Olawa have entered into a cooperation for the joint production of compete turnkey pyrolysis systems. This laid the foundations for the establishment of the first European company for the supply of complete pyrolysis systems, which, according to Waste Desorp GmbH, guarantees the customers high quality production standards and compliance with local environmental protection measures. The company's services range from customer advice, the layout and design of the systems to the construction and delivery of the complete pyrolysis plants, including assembly, training, service and spare parts supply.

According to CBC News, Ontario’s Resource Productivity & Recovery Authority (RPRA), which oversees recycling in the province, may soon impose fines of $200,000 or more on the province's tire manufacturers. According to the agency, the five companies in Ontario that collect and recycle end-of-life tires are all not in compliance with provincial legislation. The orders allege that throughout the province, the industry is not providing enough sites that collect used tires.

Gradeall – a manufacturer of innovative tire baling and recycling equipment from Nothern Ireland – have been increasingly exporting their range of tire balers, shredders and conveyors to tire recycling operations based throughout the U.S. The United States is one of the largest contributors of waste tires, with over 279 million scrap tires generated annually. Given the negative environmental impact that scrap tires can cause, there is a global push to combat this problem and develop more appropriate waste tire management solutions.

TNU (Tratamiento Neumáticos Usados) – a Spanish EPR agency for end-of-life tires – collaborated with more than 100 volunteers in cleaning of an old iron mine in the Sierra de Enmedio area (Murcia) from March 10 to 12. The activity was organized by the Resaltes de Murcia Caving Club and the Almendricos Cultural Association (Acual), in collaboration with the Lorca City Council, Norauto, TNU and the Murcia Region Caving Federation.

Bridgestone Americas (Bridgestone) announced that it has produced a run of demonstration tires made with 75% recycled and renewable materials, including synthetic rubber made with recycled plastics and natural rubber harvested from desert shrubs grown domestically, in the Arizona desert. The company has completed production of 200 demonstration tires and is pursuing joint evaluation with automakers for use on the next generation of electrified SUVs and crossovers (CUVs). The company’s relentless commitment to its goal of using 100% sustainable materials in its products by 2050 was underscored in remarks by Bridgestone Global CEO, Shuichi Ishibashi, during a February 16 briefing with media and industry analysts in Tokyo where Bridgestone also announced that it is pursuing a tire design utilizing 90% recycled and renewable materials for passenger cars.