News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

Prism Worldwide – a full-service custom compounder and material provider utilizing end-of-life tire materials founded in 2019 by Spike Anderson, William Coe and Bob Abramowitz – is revolutionizing recycling by converting end-of-life tires (EOL) and plastics into high-performance materials. By combining recycled rubber from tires with post-industrial and post-consumer recycled plastics, Prism develops sustainable alternatives that meet the specifications of virgin materials while reducing environmental impact and production costs.

Bridgestone India Private Ltd. (BSID), a subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation (Bridgestone), announced a strategic growth investment to expand capacity and capability in India. The investment will be directed to the Bridgestone Pune Plant and the Indore Plant to reinforce the company’s premium-mass strategy. The collective investment will be approximately US$85 million with expansion scheduled to start from the beginning of 2025.

The Tire Industry Project (TIP) has announced an open call for projects (OCP) to advance scientific research into tire wear emissions and their environmental impacts. The initiative, launched on November 12, aims to foster innovative solutions for assessing and mitigating the effects of tire wear particles on air, water, soil, and sediment.

ELTs make up nearly 2% of the total global waste, and an estimated one billion ELTs are discarded yearly. This waste flow is growing dramatically year after year. But businesses follow circular economy principles, they begin to view this trash as an opportunity. Through chemical pyrolysis, ELTs can be broken down into reusable commodities like recovered Carbon Black, recovered Pyrolysis Oil, and recovered Steel.

Sumitomo Rubber Industries announced the closure of its tire manufacturing plant in Tonawanda, New York, ending nearly a century of operations and eliminating 1,550 union and salaried jobs. The company cited financial losses, competitive international market pressures, and unsuccessful cost-control efforts as the primary reasons for the decision.

With the boom of electric vehicles (EVs) and world-wide focus on sustainability, the demand for high-performing, durable and sustainable-material tires has increased. Goodyear's EDS tire is engineered specifically for EVs, delivering superior wet braking and handling, reduced noise, lower rolling resistance and long mileage.

According to TSBC, Ocean Legacy Foundation (OLF) and Let’s Talk Trash have made remarkable strides in cleaning British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast and surrounding islands, removing large amounts of marine debris, including Styrofoam-filled end-of-life tires, plastic waste, and fishing gear, over the past seven years. Their collaborative efforts not only protect marine ecosystems but also advance recycling innovation.

Global leading tire company Hankook Tire & Technology (Hankook Tire) has commenced the mass production of its tires utilizing three types of ISCC (International Sustainability & Carbon Certification) PLUS certified carbon black. The carbon black, derived from end-of-life tire pyrolysis oil, was developed through the Tire-to-Tire Circular Economy Model consortium.

Decades of partnership between Liberty Tire Recycling - a prominent nation-wide network of tire recycling facilities in the United States – and Walmart demonstrate a prime example of circularity. Liberty Tire Recycling reports that the tires they collect from Walmart and Sam's Club Service Centers are repurposed into recycled rubber products, like rubber mulch and garden edging, that go right back onto shelves at those stores.