Tyre Recycling Regulation

Spain’s tyre recycling regulation is under review after TNU met with CETRAA and CONEPA to address end-of-life tyre collection issues affecting repair workshops across the country.

Collection Issues Raised With Regulators

Tratamiento Neumáticos Usados (TNU), Spain’s end-of-life tyre (ELT) management organisation, convened a meeting with the Spanish Confederation of Automotive Repair Workshops and Related Businesses (CETRAA) and the Spanish Federation of Automotive Professional Business Associations (CONEPA) to review tyre collection services nationwide.

The discussions follow a response that CETRAA and CONEPA received from Spain’s General Sub-Directorate of Waste over reported problems collecting end-of-life tyres at repair workshops, with the Ministry for Ecological Transition confirming its engagement on the issue.

Why Collection Friction Matters

Repair workshops are a front-line collection point for used tyres, so any friction there ripples through the entire recycling chain. When producer responsibility systems and day-to-day collection logistics drift out of step, processors and investors downstream can face delays, storage backlogs, and uncertainty over feedstock supply.

Spain operates an extended producer responsibility (EPR) model in which schemes such as TNU coordinate scrap tyre collection and recovery on behalf of producers. Under this structure, the producers who place tyres on the market bear the responsibility of ensuring they are properly collected and treated at end of life, and a stable collection network underpins the whole value chain. When that network runs smoothly, recyclers receive a predictable stream of feedstock that keeps processing lines operating efficiently.

The Downstream Opportunity

This regulatory attention arrives as end-of-life tyres are increasingly seen as a resource rather than a disposal burden. Modern recovery routes convert scrap tyres into recovered carbon black, pyrolysis oil, and recovered steel for use in new manufacturing and energy applications, closing the loop on a material that was once destined for landfill or incineration.

Klean Industries works at the downstream end of this chain, supplying tire pyrolysis technology that converts end-of-life tyres into fuel, recovered carbon black, and steel. As regulators across Europe tighten expectations around ELT recovery, robust processing capacity becomes more commercially valuable.

Understanding the local regulatory environment is an essential first step for any operator evaluating new tyre recycling infrastructure, and feasibility studies help de-risk that decision by clarifying feedstock security, permitting, and output markets before significant capital is committed.

Learn More:

• What is tire pyrolysis?
• What is recovered carbon black?
• Pyrolysis oil production
• Solid waste processing
• Pyrolysis & rCB plant cost

Turn ELT Regulation Into Opportunity

As Spain and the wider European market refine their tyre recycling regulation, operators need processing partners who understand both the compliance landscape and the technology that turns scrap tyres into saleable commodities.

Klean Industries supports the full project pathway, from feasibility through to engineered pyrolysis systems.

Ready to explore your options?

Contact Klean Industries about tyre recycling regulation » GO.