In a recent interview with NEUE REIFENZEITUNG, Stephan Rau, Technical Director of the German Rubber Industry Association (wdk), and Christina Guth, spokesperson for the ZARE initiative, sound the urgent alarm: The decline in the number of used tires available in Germany has "developed almost exponentially" in recent years. More and more used tires are disappearing without a trace – particularly through exports abroad – and are therefore no longer available for retreading or material recycling in Germany.
The effects on the market are already noticeable. There are shortages in the availability of retreadable casings, prices are rising, and certified disposal companies are under increasing pressure. The wdk and ZARE attribute this to an opaque system with multiple stakeholders, in which responsibility for proper disposal is all too often unclear. At the same time, they urge politicians to finally take decisive action – with greater transparency, more control, and a clearer allocation of responsibility along the entire disposal chain.
In particular, wdk and ZARE appeal to tire dealers and repair shops to work exclusively with certified waste tire disposal companies and to ensure traceability of disposal. This is the only way to prevent tires from being shipped abroad unchecked or disappearing into dubious channels.
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