For the past 30 years, cars have been an integral part of our lives. Europe and US have seen steady growth in car ownership. As the world’s population continues to grow, so does the number of vehicles and tires.

Every year, 20 million tons of tires need to be disposed and this quantity is constantly increasing by 4% every year. Therefore, all this quantity must somehow be discarded. Below there are the three most common ways to dispose used tires:

a) In landfills, old tires are buried and thus contaminate the underground aquifer with heavy metals. A tire takes around 2.000 χρόνια to decompose in the environment.

Since 2006, the legislation does not allow the burial of tires within the European Union.

b) By incineration where the old tires are burned in order to keep the steel intact. However, this is a huge pollution for the environment because CO2 emissions are produced and it is a waste of raw materials.

c) By recycling where used tires are turned into a valuable resource. 100% of the parts of a tire are being recycled and produce new raw materials (tire crumb, steel, linen).

As a result, tire recycling leads to sustainable development and innovation through the reusage of mixed waste into useful raw materials.

Thus, recycling offers a more sustainable future by:

  • The conservation and reusage of natural resources

  • The protection of the environment

  • Reducing the demand for steel and new rubber mining

  • The reduction of deforestation for the production of new rubber

  • Reducing CO2 emissions by 1 to 2 tons per ton of recycled tires

RECYCLING BENEFITS