Europe | European tyre recycling has broken records with a recycling and recovery rate exceeding 91% in 2007, four percentage points more than the previous year, according to the European manufacturers association ETRMA. 'This makes Europe as one of the most advanced region in the world in the recycling/recovery of tyres compared to for example Japan (89%) or Canada (80 %),' the association says in a statement.For nearly 15 years, the European rate has followed an unstopped increase of the amount of tyres entering recycling/recovery treatment options.As a result, a growing variety of new industrial and consumer's products have provided the market with innovative and performing articles, responding to an increased demand and thus contributing to create a sustainable market for tyre derived products. In 2007, close to 3.4 million tonnes of used tyres were generated in the enlarged Europe. While retreading remains unchanged (12%) and energy recovery stabilises around 32%, the major market benefiting from the diversion from landfill is material recycling with nearly 39%, which represents a rise of 25 % over a decade.
The European tyre manufacturers say they interpret this realisation as an encouragement to pursue the 'Producer Responsibility' strategy they initiated in the late 1990s to anticipate the regulatory, environmental and economic challenges imposed to Member States by the EU landfill ban 2. Concretely, 13 not-for-profit companies have been established in European countries.
Backed up by a proper statutory regime, they aim to organise the collection and ecologically/economically sound treatment of end-of-life tyres. In practice, the law assigns full responsibility to the producers (manufacturers and importers) for organising the management chain of end-of-life tyres, while a reporting obligation towards national authorities provides the assurance of a clear and reliable traceability system.
Acknowledgement
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