Tyre-to-tyre recycling represents in many cases the most direct and energy efficient way to reuse what is still largely considered and treated as a waste. Tyre rubber compound accounts for over 80% of the CO2 emission from raw material production for a tyre. Using tyre-derived polymer (TDP) to replace virgin rubber compound will provide more than 90% CO2 emission reduction.
As such, India’s Apollo Tyres has tied up with Canada’s Tyromer Inc, which undertakes non-chemical devulcanisation of end-of-life tyres. Tyromer, through its Indian associate, Tyromer India, will supply recycled rubber material to Apollo Tyres.
Announcing the partnership with Tyromer, P K Mohamed, Chief Advisor, R&D, Apollo Tyres Ltd, said “This partnership with Tyromer is a step towards achieving our sustainability goals, and it also enables us to honour our Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). Producing new tyres using the sustainable raw materials, is currently, the most efficient path to meet our circular economy goals.”
This partnership has validated TDP, produced by Tyromer’s proprietary and patented technology, as the raw material for tyres.
Commenting on the partnership, Dr Sam Visaisouk, CEO, Tyromer Inc, said “We are thankful to the Apollo Tyres’ team for its support of our vision of direct tyre-to-tyre recycling for achieving a tyre circular economy. In the face of climate crisis, not using rubber derived from end-of-life tyres is no longer an option.”
In related news, Tyromer’s ELT rubber is also now used by Continental Tires. This is the result of a multi-year collaboration driven by the shared commitment of the two companies to circular economy in which end-of-life tyre rubber is reused in the production of new tyres.
“Tyromer is a trusted partner of ours supplying recycled rubber material. At Continental, we focus since many years on technologies that generate high-quality feedstock derived from end-of-life tyres to produce new tyres. Our goal is to gradually use 100% sustainably produced materials in our tyre products by 2050 at the latest,” says Dr. Andreas Topp, Head of Materials and Process Development and Industrialization at Continental Tires.
Tyromer Inc. is a Canadian company founded in 2009 in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Using an open innovation business model to collaborate with tyre industry leaders, Tyromer licenses its TDP production technology and systems around the world in order to establish a distributed supply chain so tyre producers can “buy local.”