Tyres & Rubber

2019 marked a turning point for the tyre and rubber recycling industry. Having been under great threat for the past few years, it looked last summer like the European Commission was about to announce the end of tyre granulate infill, currently the major outlet for end- of-life tyre (ELT) recyclers. Contrary to expectations, however, EU’s executive spokesperson Natasha Bertaud confirmed last July that “no such proposal is under preparation from the Commission”, thus refuting media reports that the Commission was planning to ban artificial turfs. A similar decision was announced shortly afterwards by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Nevertheless, the last two or three years have seen an explosion in negative publicity within Europe and America surrounding the use of ELT-derived rubber granulate, leading to a considerable drop in demand for such material. States and municipalities in the USA and Europe have continued to propose bans or other sanctions on the incorporation of crumb rubber in playgrounds and sports pitches despite over 100 separate studies reaching the conclusion that its use in these applications carries no proven risk to humans or to the environment.

Therefore, it is more essential than ever before that other applications for ELTs are considered, developed or expanded.

In the past two years, national and European waste policies have begun to shift away from the linear model of “take, make, use and dispose” to a more circular approach whereby the value of resources is maintained for as long as possible. A mandatory minimum recycled content of over 25% has been adopted for certain plastics, giving an unprecedented boost within Europe to the markets for recycled plastics. It is clear that Europe’s market for recycled rubber will never improve unless regulators make a decisive move and impose minimum recycled contents for new products.

Ten years ago, professional bottlers would have said it was not only impossible but also dangerous to incorporate recycled PET in beverage bottles. Now, with the help of the legislator, major water and soda bottlers incorporate 25%, 50% and, in some cases, 100% rPET in their manufacturing processes. Without the help of the legislator, it is too hard to shake preconceived ideas, conventional wisdom and powerful industrial lobbies.

Fifteen years ago, rubber regeneration was limited to often- polluting and high-energy-consuming thermochemical processes. In the past decade, breakthroughs have been made – especially in China – with non-polluting processes that have doubled the mechanical properties of the regenerated compounds; we are getting closer and closer to real devulcanization and, with current technologies, it is possible to incorporate around 10% regenerated rubber in a new tyre without really affecting its properties. The proportion can be as high as 70% for technical parts in a closed-loop system.

Rubber is definitely more complicated to regenerate than plastics or metals – but without the help of the legislator, tyre and rubber recycling will remain the “poor relation” of the recycling industry.

In Europe and the USA, tyre scrap is generally treated as a low-value- added material which is turned into either energy or used as a filler for turf infill, mixed with asphalt or used to make cheap furniture, etc. Less than 1% in Europe is regenerated into reclaimed rubber. In China, by contrast, more than 95% of ELTs are turned into high-value-added reclaimed rubber; the rate is similar in India and demand for reclaimed rubber is greater than supply, thus forcing many major players to import European tyre scrap which is generally considered of higher quality than local material.

In a world where exports of all types of scrap are being restricted, it is important to start giving consideration to adding value to rubber scrap in its country of origin and exporting it only after reprocessing. This is already the trend for plastics and metals, and it should be followed by rubber too.

Europe has one of the best feedstocks in the world for making regenerated rubber; the European Parliament should step in – just as it did for plastics – in order to change mindsets and force European rubber industries to incorporate a minimum recycled content in their production so long as the properties of their end products are not greatly affected.

We believe mandatory recycled contents of 5-10% for tyres and 10- 20% for technical rubber parts are definitely workable.