Recycled plastic bottles now repurposed for sustainable tyre production
Continental Tyres has raised the use of recycled plastic bottles in its tyres for sustainable production. Here’s why…
Continental is expanding the use of recycled plastic bottles in its tyre production. A leading tyre manufacturer for the last 172 years, it has recently converted a factory to use polyester fabric made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET). In so doing, it has increased the recycled content of its tyre lines by an average of 3%.
Depending on the tyre size in question, up to 15 recycled plastics bottles can be used in the construction, reducing waste and saving valuable resources. Continental presented its own ContiRe.Tex technology for the first time at the end of 2021. It is based on PET bottles that would otherwise not be recycled. These are spun into a polyester yarn without any intermediate chemical steps. Better still, this innovative technology still withstands the special stresses in a tyre.
RECYCLED PLASTIC BOTTLES
“Reduce, reuse, recycle – this trio is key to sustainable tyres,” says Jorge Almeida, Head of Sustainability at Continental. “Wherever possible, we use recycled plastic bottles while maintaining the highest quality standards. Our polyester yarn made from PET bottles is just as strong as conventional polyester yarn. Moreover, it shows that sustainability, performance, and safety can coexist at Continental,” explains Almeida.
The innovative ContiRe.Tex technology has been used on a small scale since 2022 at plants in Portugal and the Czech Republic. Meanwhile, plants in Germany and France, have also recently started using recycled plastic bottles in series production. The switch to more sustainable materials is an important part of Continental’s future strategy.
100% GOAL BY 2050
The tyre manufacturer has set itself ambitious target of increasing the propostion of renewable and recycled materials to 40% by 2030. By then the firm predicts all new car and light bakkie tyres will contain only high-performance polyester fibres made from sustainable materials. A passenger tyre today only contains roughly 20% recycled and renewable materials.
Furthermore, the company’s goal is that by 2050 all new Continental tyres will be made 100% from sustainable materials. Step by step, it is already becoming apparent which raw materials will find their way into tyre construction in the future. These include waste products from agriculture – such as the ash from rice husks – rubber from dandelions, recycled rubber and PET bottles.