Toyo Tire Corporation has announced the development of a concept tire made with 96.5% sustainable materials, representing the company’s highest use of renewable and recycled content to date. The innovation builds on Toyo Tire’s previous concept model, which incorporated 90% sustainable materials, and reflects continued efforts to replace conventional components that have traditionally been difficult to substitute without compromising performance.

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Sustainable Concept Tire by Toyo Tires. | Photo by Toyo Tire Corporation.

The sustainable materials used in the new concept tire fall into two categories: renewable materials and recycled materials. Renewable inputs (61.5% of the tire) include biomass-derived butadiene rubber, biomass-derived styrene-butadiene rubber, biomass-based polyester fibers, rice-husk ash silica and plant-based oils. Recycled materials (35.0%) include CO₂-derived butadiene rubber developed jointly with the University of Toyama, as well as recycled carbon black, recycled bead wire and recycled steel cord.

A notable advancement in this development is the successful use of recycled sulfur and recycled zinc oxide—materials that play critical roles in tire manufacturing and have historically been difficult to replace. By applying long-established compounding and production technologies, Toyo Tire was able to integrate these recycled inputs and significantly increase the overall sustainable material ratio.

The company has set targets to achieve 40% sustainable material use by 2030 and 100% by 2050. This concept tire is described as an important milestone toward those goals. In addition to its materials profile, the tire also achieves an “AAA” rolling resistance rating under Japan’s tire labeling system, indicating extremely low rolling resistance—a factor that can reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions and improve the driving range of electric vehicles.

Toyo Tire states that further research and technical development will continue with the aim of bringing these materials and design approaches into commercial products and supporting a more sustainable mobility system.

Source: Toyo Tire Corporation.