German tyre recycling body AZuR is to petition for improved European recycling

Across Europe, and this includes the UK, there has been a growing dependency upon exporting tyres as a route to dealing with tyre arisings. The situation is complicated by EPR organisations masking their recovery and recycling rates with exports within and without the European Union.

Adverts can be found on social media from across Europe from people with container loads of tyres looking for export destinations. That is without delving into the part worn sales to African states (often illegally).

Against this background, German (and UK) recyclers in particular are under pressure, they often cannot get the feedstock they need, they cannot get what they need at a price that works for them. They are undermined by low cost collectors who simply bale and ship tyres out of the European Union.

This creates a scenario where existing recyclers are finding the market challenging, and new projects find the instability in the market a barrier to investment.

To address this, AZuR is initiating a resolution calling for better regulation of waste tyres (waste in general?) to encourage recycling within the European Union.

Old Tyre Resolution

Tyres are an irreplaceable product for our mobility and a valuable raw material that must be kept in the recycling cycle.

All tyres used in the European Union must be reused or recycled in the European Union. New tyres must be manufactured as sustainably as possible – old tyres must be kept in the recycling cycle as far as possible through retreading, material or chemical recycling. The basis of our economic trade must always be the recycling pyramid.

Visitors to the AZuR stand at The Tire Cologne will be able to sign the Resolution calling for better management of waste tyres within Europe and consequentially support “domestic” recycling.