End Markets for Scrap Tires Examined

During the BIR’s Rubber Committee meetings, Barend Ten Bruggencate, chairman of the BIR’s Tyres Committee, noted that rubber granulate used in the manufacture of artificial sports pitches has been accepted by the Dutch government as a product rather than a waste. Bruggencate also is with VACO, a Dutch company.

An average of 90 metric tons of tire-derived granulate was used in the creation of each sports field and provided a surface that, unlike grass, did not require cutting and was not so susceptible to weather conditions, he explained.

According to Ten Bruggencate, outlets for scrap tires had been somewhat limited only a decade ago. But as the Roundtable’s guest speaker pointed out, a variety of applications had emerged to make used tires “an opportunity” rather than “a problem”. Pier Clemente Mantegazza, operations director with Italian tire recycling consortium EcoPneUs, pointed out that a far larger proportion of Europe’s scrap tires were now destined for material and energy recovery rather than for landfilling.

Whole tires were being used in civil engineering projects as, including erosion barriers, artificial reefs, off-coast breakwaters and embankment stabilizers.

One end market for aggregate derived from shredding tires was as a foundation for roads and railways, or as a drainage material in place of sand and gravel. Mantegazza also noted that end-of-life tires were being used “as a source of fuel for steel making, while European cement kilns using tire-derived fuel were “already complying with the Incineration Directive of 2008”.

Among the applications for tire-derived crumbs and powders, the guest speaker pointed in particular to molded rubber products such as wheels for golf trolleys, dustbins and wheelbarrows. Other outlets included flooring for playgrounds and sports pitches, shock-absorbent mats and roofing products.

In his review of issues influencing or likely to affect the used tire market, Ten Bruggencate contended that controls on shipments of materials designated as waste would become “extremely strict” over the next five years. Proposals put forward during the revision of EU waste shipment regulations included a call for shipper, customer, license and route details to be published on the Internet.

If such a measure were to be imposed, he said, Internet users would be able to access previously confidential information that would quickly enable them to build up a complete picture of the market and of their competitors’ operations. “That is something we don’t really want,” he insisted.