Tire & rubber recyclers call for better support in Europe

Amsterdam – The EU’s tire & rubber recycling industry is being held back by lack of regulatory harmonisation and uncertainty over investment support across the region.

That was a key message to emerge from the 'tyres & rubber committee' meeting at the recent Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) convention in Amsterdam.

Underlining the difficulties, Pieter ter Haar, R&D director at UK-based recycler Circtec, said funding mechanisms were “not set up” to support tire recycling in Europe.

Moreover, “frequent regulatory changes created an uncertainty that could often deter investors,” ter Haar told industry delegates at the 24 May committee meeting.

The Circtec executive went on to note that tire pyrolysis plants require high levels of capital expenditure, making it “crucial” to secure support from off-takers.

A more sustainable approach to investment was “essential”, added ter Haar, noting that around 25% of capex goes into systems to capture toxic emissions.

Pyrolysis has become “very complex” requiring “high investments to ensure the technology will deliver what is needed”, concurred Ad van Oorschot, sales and R&D director of Dutch-based Black Bear Carbon.

For his part, committee chairman and meeting co-moderator Max Craipeau, CEO of China-based Greencore Resources Ltd, said the aim now should be “more and more recycled content”.

Minimum content mandates have proved highly effective within the plastics sector “because brands have no choice but to have recycled content,” said Craipeau, suggesting that this might be an effective tool for the tire sector.

However, ter Haar expressed concern that tire manufacturers might look for lower-quality recycled content from other parts of the world. “You should recycle your own tires in your own region,” he insisted.

Co-moderating the event, Martin von Wolfersdorff, principal advisor of Wolfersdorff Consulting, said there were “many areas where the EU could do better for green-tech startups.”

In particular, von Wolfersdorff said recovered carbon black (rCB) producers are being impacted by a lack of a harmonised "end-of-waste" status for recycled materials and products in the EU.

“This means that rCB could be a product in one EU country, but when transported over the border to a EU customer, the product turns into waste again because of the different legislation in that country,” he explained.

To address such issues, von Wolfersdorff said – in subsequent written comments to ERJ – "we are currently working on an industry association to better represent and lobby for the recovered carbon black industry.”