The tire recycling industry in Germany is a model for the implementation of the circular economy and is in line with the goals of the European Green Deal and the National Circular Economy Strategy (NKWS). With a circular economy rate of around 70 percent, the recycling industry shows how successful sustainable business can be. Despite these successes, the future of the tire recycling industry is seriously threatened by insufficient environmental awareness, an increasing number of cheap imports from the Far East that cannot be retreaded, a lack of political support and contradictory EU legislation.
In order to secure the sustainable future of the tire circular economy, ZARE, in cooperation with the AZuR network, has written a green paper with important demands for the Ministry of the Environment and those responsible in the EU: “No Green Deal without a climate-friendly circular economy”.
With the draft National Circular Economy Strategy of June 18, 2024, the Federal Government wants to seriously advance the circular economy. The Europe-wide implementation of this sustainable circular economy in all sectors and waste streams is crucial to achieving the targeted climate neutrality by 2050, decoupling economic growth from resource use and securing the long-term competitiveness of the EU.
Some of the NKWS goals for the next twenty years are already being met by the tire recycling industry. These include high-quality recycling of materials, a suitable recycling infrastructure and resource efficiency in production. The proportion of sustainable materials in new tires is constantly increasing. Retreading tires conserves natural resources, material recycling keeps valuable raw materials in the cycle and the chemical recycling of old tire rubber produces, among other things, recovered carbon black (rCB) for the production of new tires.
In order to achieve the climate goals of the European Green Deal, EU policy must finally manage to
- to eliminate the conflicting objectives between the circular economy and chemicals legislation,
- to develop a common, cross-sector and cross-country strategy,
- to finally campaign consistently for climate-friendly recycling and retreading of used tyres in Europe
The implementation of these measures can secure the future of the sustainable tire circular economy and make an important contribution to climate and environmental protection. Read more now
