BIR | As recently as 1994, Europe was achieving a used tyre recovery rate of just 38%. However, this figure had soared to 91% by 2008 with the result that only 9% of scrap tyres were consigned to landfill, the BIR Tyres Round-Table in Amsterdam was informed by its Chairman Barend Ten Bruggencate.
Statistics from the European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) reveal that, of the 2008 total, around 39% of the used tyres were directed into materials recycling while a further 32% were subjected to energy recovery. According to Mr Ten Bruggencate, this massive surge in recovery and recycling activity has been inspired by EU legislation, starting with the Landfill Directive.
Major outlets for scrap tyres include civil engineering, artificial sports pitches and cement kilns, he went on to note.
Guest speaker Catherine Clauzade, Director of Research & Development at Aliapur - the French organisation responsible for collecting, preparing and recycling end-of-life tyres, pointed out that 5% of its turnover is devoted to industrial research. In this context, Aliapur has played a role in, for example, industrialising the substitution of foundry coke with shred from used truck tyres. Since foundry coke costs around Euro 200 per tonne, she added, “it’s a very good opportunity for us”. Other areas of study for Aliapur have included the use of processed end-of-life tyres in road drainage systems and equestrian surfaces, she added.
Almost 300,000 tonnes of scrap tyres entered the Aliapur system last year. And given that the used tyre sector remains “a cost centre”, one of body’s goals is to reduce its charges for these incoming volumes. Since 2004, contributions have dropped from Euro 2.2 per passenger car tyre to Euro 1.50, Ms Clauzade revealed.
The second guest speaker at the BIR Tyres Round-Table in Amsterdam was Dr Wilma Dierkes, Associate Professor within the University of Twente’s Faculty of Engineering Technology in the Netherlands. She emphasised that materials recycling cannot accommodate all end-of-life tyres and that, as a result, there will always be a role for the energy recovery route. However, she added, materials recycling offers the highest valorisation potential.
The goal of her efforts, she told delegates, is to return at least half of the material for recycling into the original rubber products via devulcanisation.
Acknowledgement
www.recyclinginternational.com
