Used tyres usually end up as a land fill. They can be turned into artificial turf, sport courts or sandals

Every year Europe generates 2.5 million tonnes of old tyres. Nearly 600,000 tonnes of these originate in Germany, where tyre sales are the highest. Many find their way to a landfill and find little other use. Automotive supplier Continental AG, which is also the manufacturer of Continental tyres in addition to various other automotive sub assemblies, systems and components, has found a new way to recycle old tyres. The group has found a tyre disposal company, Reifen-Entsorgungsgesellschaft mbh, which works with different waste management companies in the area of tyre recycling. As part of the research and development used tyres were shredded, for example, and waste rubber containing metal and fabric reduced to as little as 20 mm in size.

The interesting part of the development indicates that used rubber, free of any metal or fabric content can be rendered even smaller to serve as the basis for making new products like rubber shoes, door mats and oil absorption mats for workshops, etc. Roof sealing elements and material for surfacing sports courts are also made from rubber granulate, as is structural insulation material. Tyres also end up back on the road as retreaded truck tyres or as a component ingredient in road surfacing-in noise-reducing asphalt topping for example.

Says Helmut Hirsch, managing director of the Gesellschaft für Altgummi-Verwertungssysteme m.b.H. (GAVS), a used rubber recycler: "The salvaging of used tyres, primarily the production of granulate, has been growing steadily. Nearly a quarter of all old tyres are now processed into granulate, twice of what it was ten years ago. The lion's share is used as infill material for artificial turf, whereby care must be taken that DIN standards and provisions of the German Soil Protection Act are complied with. At present, some 250 football fields are converted to artificial turf each year. The potential is there. In Germany alone, some 10,000 fields could be converted. This is a business with a future, as the turf doesn't have to be renewed then for another ten years."

The cement industry makes use of around 288,000 tonnes of shredded tyres as fuel and feedstock, with silicate and steel gladly used as raw material substitutes in the manufacture of cement. But old tyres are also welcome in agricultural and port areas, where 3,000 tonnes of them are used each year. According to GAVS, used tyres may no longer be disposed of at refuse dumps in Germany. The tyre industry can now boast a higher recycling rate (96 percent) than for glass (83 percent) or paper (61 percent).