Scandinavian Enviro Systems’ (Enviro) major shareholder, French tyre maker Michelin, developed a racing tyre for this year’s edition of the Le Mans 24-hour race that contains a full 63% sustainable materials, including recovered carbon black (rCB) from Enviro’s plant in Åsensbruk, Sweden. The tyre has been used on one of the cars that took part in the famous race’s 100th anniversary recently.
Michelin and Le Mans share a long history – when the first 24-hour race at Le Mans was held on 27 May 1923, tyres from the French manufacturer were fitted to the winning vehicle. The close link with motorsport has remained ever since, and over the years Michelin has played a prominent role on racetracks, not least at the famous Le Mans 24-hour race. For 25 consecutive years, from 1998 to 2022, Michelin tyres have been fitted to the winning cars.
For this year’s edition, which took place between 10-11 June, Michelin has developed a racing tyre that contains a whopping 63% environmentally sustainable materials, including recovered carbon black from Enviro. The new tyre was fitted to the Green GT Mission H24, a hydrogen racing prototype car, but other racing cars will also use Michelin tyres containing recovered carbon black from Enviro, including the electric Porsche 718 CaymanGT4e Performance 100% electric. The latter runs on tyres containing 53% recovered and renewable materials.
The recovered carbon black in the tyres of both cars comes from Enviro’s plant in Åsensbruk, Sweden, where end-of-life tyres are given new life using the company’s patented pyrolysis technology. Michelin has previously introduced environmentally sustainable tyres using recovered and renewable materials, but the tyre used on the Green GT Mission H24 sets a new record for the proportion of sustainable materials.
“We know that our recovered carbon black is of the highest quality and this shows that Enviro’s materials can be used even in one of the world’s most prestigious and demanding motorsport races. This is, of course, a feather in our cap but also promising for a future where recycled materials and circular methods will play an increasingly important role,” said Thomas Sörensson, CEO of Enviro.
Michelin has set the target that all of its tyres should be made entirely of sustainable materials by 2050. Michelin has been Enviro’s single largest owner since 2020.