Recently the Tyre and Rubber Recycling magazine published an article about the current situation in Ukraine and how it impacts tire recycling industry in the country. The material below contains citations from the article by Ewan Scott. Please read the full original article here.

What does the future hold for Ukrainian recycling?

To be fair, it's a really inconsequential topic to be asking as we sit on the sidelines watching Russia invade Ukraine.

The truth is that we have no idea. Even in the midst of a battle, life must continue in some way. Except in Ukraine, where normal activity has been essentially halted.

Prior to the conflict, tire recycling was not a major focus in Ukraine, with just 10% of the 180,000-200,000 tons of end-of-life tires recycled each year. According to German surveys, until recently, the vast majority of all Ukrainian garbage was delivered to landfills. Nestle and Veolia, on the other hand, were establishing waste-to-energy plants in the country.

Only a few projects were known in Ukraine, such as EcoTyre, a start-up that was working on tire collection and was trying to acquire money for a recycling line worth roughly 700,000 Euro. For political reasons, they were registered in Germany, although their operations were headquartered in Ukraine.

EcoTyre intended to set up a project using microwave technology to recycle tires in a mobile plant. The company was talking to CEYES and MTB about taking the next step in 2019.

Mobius is a pyrolysis project specializing in the production of activated carbon. The company gave a presentation at a previous ETRA conference and had a very youthful approach to business. Unfortunately, their plant was located near a refinery outside of Kyiv, which is likely being attacked by Russian soldiers.

TSK Recycling, a group of companies in Kharkov that renders services in disposal of tires and other rubber technical goods, as well as the mixed unclassified plastics, has reported bombing and conflict in and around the city. It is evident that recycling is not at the top of their priority list right now.

In September 2017, Eco Green supplied equipment to German Polytan GmbH, operating Boryspril outside Kiev.

Correspondent of Tyre and Rubber Recycling Vladimir Vorotnikov, a native of Kharkiv, wrote about recycling in Ukraine. He reported that; “A new tire recycling plant is about to begin operation in the city of Mukachevo, the regional government said in a statement on its website. The plant is designed for grinding used tires into rubber crumb, which is expected to be used in constructing children’s playgrounds throughout the country…

“… In June of 2020, a new Waste Management Bill passed the first reading in the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukraine Parliament. Lawmakers were planning to introduce producer responsibility for tire recycling, similar to that in the European Union. However, the Bill never made it to its second reading, and now its future remains vague.”

The conflict will have brought the nascent Ukrainian tire recycling industry to a grinding halt.

To read more about the topic, please proceed to the original article by Tyre and Rubber Recycling.