European Tire Recycling Tops 95 Percent

According to reports released by the European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers’ Association, a European-based tire association, tire recycling and recovery rates on the continent topped 95 percent last year.

The 2008 statistics released by the ETRMA show a continuation in the pattern seen over the last 15 years or so, a period during which the disposal of end of life tires in landfill has decreased from more than 60 per cent in 1994 to around five per cent today. The number of old tires receiving ecological treatment, the ETRMA notes, has increased by an average of four percent a year.

Last year, up to 60 percent of the 3.3 million metric tons of end of life tires in the European market were collected and treated under Producer Responsibility obligations. While energy recovery continues to account for around 35 per cent of these tires, material recycling is the market to have most benefited from falling landfill usage. Between 1994 and 2008, the recycling rate has grown to 40 percent, showing that the recycling applications market is being sustainably consolidated.