The end-of-life tire supply chain fears the EU no to recycling

Urgently convene an inter-ministerial table for the Environment and Business and made in Italy with the operators to ensure a circular future for the end-of-life tire collection and recycling chain (ELTs) which risks blocking due to the absence of outlet markets for the materials obtained from their treatment and recycling. This is requested by Ecopneus (which brings together tire manufacturing companies operating in Italy) and Unirigom (Union of Italian rubber recoverers) which is a member of Assoambiente. The two associations denounce a critical situation for operators which “will arise after the probable European stop to the use of recycled rubber in synthetic turf soccer fields, an Italian excellence” and “with no outlet markets for recycling, part of the 370,000 tonnes treated each year in Italy runs the risk of ending up incinerated outside the EU”. As part of the conference entitled “The future of the country’s economy: circulating like an end-of-life tire – New perspectives for the ELT supply chain, strategic for national and global sustainability objectives”, questions were asked, among other , the revision of the current “end of waste” decree for vulcanized granular rubber, support for the chemical recycling of ELTs, the diffusion of asphalt with rubber powder. Currently, the national tracing, collection and recycling system manages about 370,000 tons of tires for cars, trucks and motorcycles every year” of which about 52% of the rubber is sent for energy recovery, while the remaining 160,000 tons (48%) are intended for material recovery and transformed into recycled rubber for sports surfaces, road asphalt, anti-shock flooring and anti-vibration systems, but also energy, mainly at cement factories, in Italy and abroad, it was explained.