German rubber industry warns of continued high losses of end-of-life tires
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.
