Goodyear reports progress in use of sustainable materials

Akron, Ohio - Goodyear is on track with plans to deliver a 100% sustainable-material tire by 2030, according to its recently published 2023 Corporate Responsibility Report.

In 2024, Goodyear is continuing to advance its materials science and technology “making good the use of renewable, recycled and bio-based material inflows.”

Recent progress in this area includes the launch in December 2023 of the EcoReady consumer tire made with 70% sustainable materials, noted the report issued 27 June. (ERJ report)

Inputs included a silica product made from residual rice husk ash (RHA) - a byproduct of rice processing that offers a more sustainable alternative to traditional sand-based silica.

Having introduced the filler at several of its global manufacturing facilities over recent years, Goodyear reported that it had “more than doubled” its use of RHA silica in 2023 compared to 2022..

Meanwhile, Goodyear said it “maintained [its] 2022 usage rates of sustainable oil usage in place of petroleum-based oils,” towards a goal of fully replacing petroleum-based oils in all products by 2040.

This, added the report, included a 9.9% year-on-year increase in the group’s use of soybean oil in its polymer and tire manufacturing processes.

Further progress included a mid-2023 announcement that its ElectricDrive GT in size 235/40R19 now includes Monolith carbon black produced by methane pyrolysis in the tread compound.

This, claimed Goodyear, is the “first tire for sale in the industry” to employ a carbon black produced by Nebraska-based Monolith’s plasma-based process that yields carbon and hydrogen.

Goodyear said it plans to explore using Monolith carbon black across additional product lines as well as potentially using carbon black produced from methane derived from waste sources.