EuRIC Brochure presents key facts about end-of-life (ELT) mechanical tyre recycling, which is a major enabler of circularity and climate mitigation for the entire tyre value chain.

The Brochure describes the current state of play of ELT management with recommendations to overcome key challenges faced by the European mechanical tyre recycling industry be them embedded in legislation, market failures or eco-design. It features key numbers outlining the economic importance of the ELT recycling sector as well as its benefits for the environment and society.

State of the art mechanical tyre recycling entirely supports the European Green Deal and the new Circular Economy Action Plan stressed Poul Steen Rasmussen, President of EuRIC’s Mechanical Tyre recycling (MTR) Branch and Group CEO Genan. The processing of ELT tyres into rubber is not only the most resource-efficient option; it also the most climate-efficient one since for each tonne of ELT recycled -for example as infill for artificial turf pitches- the climate is spared 700 kg of CO₂, he added.

Currently, out of the approx. 3 million tonnes (Mt) of tyres reaching end-of-life stage annually in Europe, there are more than 1 Mt of tyres down-cycled annually in energy recovery, while less than 50% (approx. 1.5 Mt) are mechanically recycled into rubber, steel and textile fibers. Increasing material recovery is essential as natural rubber is a critical raw material in Europe^[1].

A landfill ban for ELT is far from sufficient to boost tyres circularity. The EU needs to consider further measures to closing the loop of the Circular Economy of tyres, in particular:

• Incentives rewarding ELT recycling benefits and recycled content targets to drive the demand for recycled materials from tyres, especially rubber, be it in new tyres, asphalts, moulded products and construction materials.
• EU-wide end-of-waste criteria for ELT which are essential to alleviate obstacles impacting circular uses of materials derived from ELT recycling into a variety of applications benefiting society, the environment and industrial symbiosis. While national end-of-waste criteria as the recently adopted by Italy^[2] are strongly supported, harmonization at EU level is key for a well-functioning of internal market for secondary raw materials.

Sustainable design of tyres to boost their recyclability and minimum thresholds of recycled content to stimulate the demand. Product design requirements shall go hand in hand with a better enforcement at European borders of imported new tyres which must comply with European standards to level the playing and protect the environment.

[1] European Commission (2020). Critical Raw Materials Resilience: Charting a Path towards greater Security and Sustainability
[2] Regolamento recante disciplina della cessazione della qualifica di rifiuto della gomma vulcanizzata derivante da pneumatici fuori uso, ai sensi dell'articolo 184-ter del decreto legislativo 3 aprile 2006, n. 152. (20G00094) (GU Serie Generale n.182 del 21-07-20)

Tyres are complex products subject to strict standards to fulfill mobility and safety requirements. Proper treatment of end-of-life tyres (ELTs) is essential to recover valuable materials of which tyres are made, namely rubber, steel and textiles. A new peer-reviewed study, based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) meeting ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards, made by the Danish FORCE Technology Institute and the German ifeu – Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg GmbH¹ demonstrates that mechanical recycling of ELTs into infill for artificial pitches is, by far, the most sound treatment option in terms of circularity and climate benefits. The LCA study shows that the mechanical recycling of an average of 400,000 tonnes of ELTs processed into infill for artificial turf - when compared with energy recovery - spares the environment 280,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually in the EU. To give an order of magnitude, ELT recycling as infill into artificial turfs offsets greenhouse gases emissions (GHS) comparable to the amount of GHS absorbed by 140,000 hectares (approx. 250 million trees) of forest land in the EU2.Tyres are complex products subject to strict standards to fulfill mobility and safety requirements. Proper treatment of end-of-life tyres (ELTs) is essential to recover valuable materials of which tyres are made, namely rubber, steel and textiles. A new peer-reviewed study, based on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) meeting ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards, made by the Danish FORCE Technology Institute and the German ifeu – Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg GmbH1 demonstrates that mechanical recycling of ELTs into infill for artificial pitches is, by far, the most sound treatment option in terms of circularity and climate benefits. The LCA study shows that the mechanical recycling of an average of 400,000 tonnes of ELTs processed into infill for artificial turf - when compared with energy recovery - spares the environment 280,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually in the EU. To give an order of magnitude, ELT recycling as infill into artificial turfs offsets greenhouse gases emissions (GHS) comparable to the amount of GHS absorbed by 140,000 hectares (approx. 250 million trees) of forest land in the EU².

Continue reading the full press release by clicking on the link below.

¹ Life cycle assessment of waste tyre treatments: Material recycling vs. coincineration in cement kilns, Force Technology with contribution by ifeu – Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg GmbH, for GENAN Holding A/S, May 2020.
² European Parliament News. Climate change: using EU forests to offset carbon emissions (Eurostat), April, 2018.

By turning waste into valuable resources and hence saving massive amounts of GHG and energy, plastics recycling is at the core of the circular economy. Automotive plastics’ recyclers have developed during the last decades state-of-art post-treatment technologies to efficiently separate and then recycle plastics from end-of-life vehicles (ELV); recycled plastics that once compounded again in new vehicles, meet similar performance standards as those compounds from virgin polymers

In this substantiated call for recycled content of plastics in new cars, EuRIC outlines the state of play of plastics in the automotive sector and highlights the need for an increase content of recycled plastics thanks to targets to be set in the ELV Directive currently under revision. 

The document is divided into seven questions that develop on explaining what are PAHs, why are they present in synthetic turfs, and how safe it is to use those turfs regarding the low rate of exposure of PAHs for users, its environmental benefits, and what can be further improved to establish realistic restrictions to the use of ELT for the production of synthetic turfs.