Pollutec Recycling

The lifecycle of tyres

The increased number of vehicles has led to a tremendous growth in the volume of used tyres. Over a billion tyres reach their end of life in the world each year (Brown and Watson, 2002) of which about 200 000 000 arise in Europe and 290 000 000 in the United States (RMA, 2003). From 1998 to 2008 this is expected to change by ±2% every year. Vast quantities of tyres are stocked piled in designated landfills or illegally dumped, since a small quantity is presently reused and recycled (see www .rma.org/scrap_tire s/). Besides posing a pressure on the environment and the existing waste management sector, this enormous waste flow also creates opportunities for new recycling markets to evolve.

The tyre lifecycle traditionally comprises four main stages. These include production, consumption, collection of used tyres and waste management. A simplified version of the tyre cycle for one region is depicted in Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1. The lifecycle of a tyre