European End of Life Tyre Recovery Now Above 91%

The ETRMA has confirmed that, last year, the European recovery rate for end of life tyres exceeded 91 per cent, a rate more than 4 per cent higher than the previous year. This positive trend means that Europe is now one of the most advanced regions in the world in the recycling and recovery of tyres, ahead of, for example, Japan, which has a recovery rate of 89 per cent and Canada, at 80 per cent. And while the UK recovery rate, at 95 per cent, is above the European average, it still lags behind the 11 European countries that have achieved a recovery rate of 100 per cent.

In 2007, close to 3.4 million tons of used tyres were generated in the enlarged Europe. While the rate of retreading remains unchanged (12 per cent) and energy recovery is stabile at around 32 per cent, the major market benefiting from the diversion from landfill is material recycling The European tyre manufacturers, says the ETRMA, interpret this as an encouragement to pursue the ‘Producer Responsibility’ strategy they initiated in the late 1990s to anticipate the regulatory, environmental and economic challenges imposed to Member States by the EU landfill ban. The rate of material recycling in 2007 reached 38.7 per cent, which represents a rise of 25 per cent over the course of a decade.

According to the ETRMA, the European tyre manufacturers’ ambition is to further reinforce the end of life tyre recycling market with solid product standards for end of life derived products by participating in the development of specific standards being currently developed at national levels, such as AFNOR, BSI and DIN, and European levels, such as CEN/TC 366.

The tyre industry corporate members of the ETRMA are Bridgestone Europe, Continental, Cooper Tires, Goodyear Dunlop Tires Europe, Marangoni, Michelin, Mitas, Nokian Tyres, Pirelli Tyre, Trelleborg Wheel Systems and Vredestein.