Sustainable tyres in the EU now on the finishing straight

 

German specialty chemicals company Lanxess, the pioneer of synthetic rubber, is taking part in the first Tyre Label Legislation & Marketing Conference (TLLM) Brussels, Belgium from October 3 – 4, 2012. In the recent years, the company has obtained experience and expertise in the development of specialty elastomers to produce energy-efficient tyres.

 

 

“The timing of the first TLLM conference could hardly have been more symbolic,” says Christoph Kalla, head of Marketing in the LANXESS Performance Butadiene Rubbers business unit (PBR), who will explain the relationship between sustainability and polymer chemistry in a detailed paper entitled “Sustainable Mobility – How to Bring it on the Road”. “From November, tire labeling legislation will come into force in Europe. It will give tire buyers an insight into how energy-efficient a tyre is, in a similar way to the system that was put in place some years ago for refrigerators. We expect this regulation to have a number of benefits. First and foremost, it will help increase public interest in what, until now, has been a very anonymous material, namely rubber. Moreover, our modern high-end synthetic rubber provides developers with a number of trump cards for designing fuel-saving tires”.

 

 

Due to this, the company is motivating to increase the awareness of the consumers to “green tyres” and its fuel-saving ability as well as its fuel savings calculator app for smartphones.

 

 

Lanxess expert Kalla said that these are the starting points of the company and that there are still a lot of aspects for new developments and improves their processing properties for the better. This is also the reason why they are asking everyone from car drivers to producers and tyre manufacturers to get involved in the tyre development. He also said that the TLLM is a great opportunity to relay the message to everyone who will benefit from this information. (PRA)