Japanese tyre maker Sumitomo Rubber Industries, Ltd. (SRI) says its collaboration in a research project has resulted in a technique that may improve natural rubber yields and even enable natural rubber biosynthesis within a laboratory.
Following a successful pilot scheme, Kwik Fit is increasing product availability for customers who want to buy tyres that support sustainable rubber production and help protect the rainforests of Indonesia. The company is now offering three brands of tyre that tick these boxes.
The USA has classified natural rubber as a strategic raw material that serves as a critical ingredient in military, aircraft and truck tyres. The country currently relies on rubber imports for its tyre production but wishes to reduce this dependency, and government and military are thus working with private partners to accelerate commercialisation of natural rubber from dandelions. Goodyear Tire & Rubber will play a key role in achieving this goal.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Joint Genome Institute has awarded Bridgestone Americas a research grant to advance its optimisation of guayule, a drought resistant, desert shrub that shows promise as a local source of natural rubber for tyre production. Bridgestone has spent more than a decade researching guayule rubber for use in tyres.
Four in a row – For 2021, the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) has once again awarded Continental the highest grade in its Supplier Engagement rating. This makes Continental one of the eight per cent of companies awarded 2021 leadership status by the international non-profit organisation for supplier commitment to climate change.
Hankook Tire has announced it will provide formic acid, an eco-friendly coagulant, to rubber farmers in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. It says this measure furthers its “commitment to enhance the sustainability across its value chain for natural rubber.”
Project TREE is the first attempt to establish natural rubber traceability using blockchain, and the UK is the first market where consumers can buy tyres containing verifiable sustainable rubber. Following the launch of traceable Pirelli tyres earlier this month, Hankook Tire & Technology is now distributing tyres manufactured through the project.
With immediate effect, tyre maker Continental will handle a portion of its natural rubber purchasing through HeveaConnect, a digital trading platform designed to ensure greater transparency and sustainability in the natural rubber supply chain. Reporting this new arrangement, Continental’s Dr Andrea Appel explains that the goal is to procure all materials from “responsible sources,” and that the key to achieving this “lies in innovative technologies and digitalisation, which can make a decisive contribution to transparency in complex supply chains.”
Japan’s Itochu Corporation announced today the commercial launch of Project TREE, an initiative that uses a blockchain-based traceability system to ensure the sustainability and traceability of natural rubber. Partners participating in the Project include Itochu subsidiaries and tyre manufacturers, and the UK will be the first market to benefit.
Global natural rubber (NR) production output will rise 1.8 per cent to 13.836 million tonnes by the end of 2021, according to figures compiled by the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) and published on 22 November 2021. However, while global output appears to have grown this year, full-year 2021 global demand projections point to growth of 8.3 per cent to 14.028 million tonnes. Therefore, demand still outstrips supply and so the resultant prices look likely to remain high.
Sailun’s Cambodia tyre factory manufactured its first tyre on 1 November 2021. Symbolic launch aside, production proper began the following week with the goal of reaching full speed by 18 November 2021.
Pirelli’s latest efforts are quite literally for the birds – and this is by no means a bad thing. Together with the BMW Group, Pirelli is joining with BirdLife International in a three-year project that aims to favour the long-term production of sustainable and deforestation-free natural rubber in Indonesia. Our feathered friends are just one of a whole range of potential beneficiaries.
Last Friday was an important day for GRI in regards to its environmental engagements – the Sri Lankan tyre maker launched its ‘Greening Our Planet’ project by planting 450 rubber trees at smallholder rubber farms in Moneragala District.
Tyre maker Continental and Security Matters, an Australian company focused on the digitisation of physical objects in the blockchain, are collaborating to develop and test a marker technology for natural rubber. The two companies have entered into an agreement covering this work.
Hankook Tire and Apollo Tyres are the latest tyre manufacturers to align their natural rubber procurement policies with the framework adopted by the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) in September 2020. Indian firm Apollo has released its first natural rubber policy document, while South Korea’s Hankook has updated the policy it introduced in 2018. Earlier this week, Yokohama Rubber announced it had altered its natural rubber procurement policy to accommodate the GPSNR policy framework.
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Delwar Hossain; CC-SA 4.0
Sailun