Analysis: Keep calm and recycle

Despite decades of debate, regulation and advances in technologies in areas such as pyrolysis, cryogenic grinding and energy-recovery, the industry, its regulators and other stakeholders still seem locked in constant argument over the most effective ways to collect, process and recycle tires.

Just now in the UK, for example, there are concerns that new fire safety standards at waste storage facilities could put many tire recyclers out of business, while the French tire recycling industry is currently the scene of legal battles over a range of commercial and health & safety issues.

Yet another recent sign of discord came when the European Tyre Recycling Association (ETRA) issued a statement voicing concerns about the standard of data collection and recording in Europe.

The most widely accepted figures for arisings in Europe, noted ETRA, are produced by the European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ERTMA). These put annual European ELT arisings, in 2013, at 1.897 million tonnes.

At its annual conference in March, however, ETRA presented estimates putting total arisings at 2.99 million tonnes – taking into account new OE tire sales, replacement tire sales, and making a 20-percent allowance for loss through wear.

This 57-percent disparity, it said, “raises questions about the standard of data collection and recording across Europe. Such a considerable element of the arisings ‘missing’ requires that we ask questions about what might be happening to them under the radar of the governing bodies and governments.”

These comments drew a rapid response from the ETRMA, which described the ETRA statement as “an obvious misinterpretation” of the data, which appeared in its statistics booklet. The figures, said ETRMA represented around 71 percent of the total arisings of 14 countries covered by the statistics and “were never intended to represent EU total arisings.”

While there are two sides to every argument, the way in which this particular dispute unfurled suggests that there are some fundamental misunderstandings between these two important industry bodies – both Brussels-based.

One way to help bridge such divides among those striving to develop a sustainable future for the European tire industry would be for them to look at what’s happening in other regions of the world.

At the ETRA annual conference, keynote speaker Hermann Erdmann, head of Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (REDISA), described a new integrated ELT management plan that offered a “third way” of managing tire and rubber waste.

While the South Africa government-backed scheme is designed for developing markets, Erdmann said the model also offered key lessons for the European markets such as developing new processes and ways of managing collections.

It may seem an unlikely place to find answers to a very European problem, but South Africa has at least managed to get its regulators, manufacturers, collectors and recyclers working together.