ENGINEERINGNET.EU -- Last year, close to 3.3 million tonnes of used tyres (incl. 430 kt of UK arisings) were managed in an environmentally sound manner.
After sorting out the data of those tyres going for reuse or retreading, most of the remaining stream went into a variety of recycling, public works or civil engineering applications (material recovery) or was used as a fuel substitute in cement kilns, boilers and power plants (energy recovery).
Looking at the details of treatment routes, 2011 features an increase in material recovery (+0.5%) but a decrease in energy recovery (-2%).
In terms of volume, the production of rubber granulate and powder is the main material recovery route (83%), followed by civil engineering and public works applications (14%), dock fenders, blasting mats (3%) and steel mills and foundries (0.4%).
As regards energy recovery, the main user of ELT shreds or whole tyres remains the cement industry (92% in volume), followed by urban heating, power plants and boilers (7%) and pyrolysis (1%).
With ECOPNEUS operating since September 2011, there are fourteen ELT management organizations working throughout Europe under the producer responsibility principle.
‘This increasingly widespread system of legal framework assigns the main responsibility to the tyre manufacturers and importers themselves, leaving them to organise collectively the management of ELTs. Those involved in the industry strongly prefer this system’, Mrs. Cinaralp, the Secretary General states.
