If tires are damaged or worn, they must be disposed of. This can be done at a tire dealer, at a car repair shop or at the city's recycling center. But what actually happens to the old tires after disposal?
One recycling option is the production of rubber granulate. For this purpose, the used tires are shredded in large plants, first into large pieces and then into smaller and smaller pieces. The rubber is then separated from the metal residue using a screening process. The rubber is then processed into rubber granules. This granulate is used in low-noise asphalt, sports tracks, artificial turf and also in washing machines or in insulating mats when building houses.
However, the majority of end-of-life tires end up in cement factories, where they are burned in rotary kilns to generate energy. Scrap tires are a particularly good fuel that produces a lot of energy - even more than coal.
Source: ARTE Xenius
