Tire Recycling in the UK: Present and Future Trends
Tyre Recycling in the UK: Present and Future Trends
End-of-life vehicles (ELV’s) are motor vehicles that are defined as waste by the Waste Directive. All of the components are classed as waste as well, including the tyres, which represent approximately 3.5% of the weight of an ELV. Considering 8 million vehicles are disposed of and 18 million part-worn tyres are disposed of, a total of 50 million tyres need to be dealt with each year. This report will discuss the current methods of recycling and reusing tyres and also the future techniques to be introduced to the industry. However, I will begin by introducing the history of recycling tyres.
Recycling of rubber began in the early 1800’s, when the industrial manufacture of rubber began. Rubber scraps were ground into shreds and crushed into large blocks that could be reused. In the early 20th Century rubber costs were relatively high, making recycling essential for rubber to be affordable. At this time 50% of rubber content was being recycled, however this was to be short lived due to the introduction of synthetic rubber manufacturing. The influx was caused by the demand for tyres in World War II and cheap oil imports reduced manufacturing costs, which dropped tyre and rubber recycling to just 20%.
Recycling of tyres has encountered many obstacles; in 1943 vulcanisation of rubber was invented and patented by Charles Goodyear. Vulcanisation links all the rubber molecules together into one big molecule, which weather proofs the rubber yet is ultimately difficult to re-separate and recycle. Vulcanised rubber can be reused but only if it is combined with natural rubber, which was in low demand due to the new and lower priced synthetic rubber. In the 1960’s tyre recycling became harder due to the invention of steel-belted radial tyres. The rubber in the tyres could still be ground and shredded, however the steel needed to be removed at this stage, which was expensive and required invention.
End-of-life vehicles (ELV’s) are motor vehicles that are defined as waste by the Waste Directive. All of the components are classed as waste as well, including the tyres, which represent approximately 3.5% of the weight of an ELV. Considering 8 million vehicles are disposed of and 18 million part-worn tyres are disposed of, a total of 50 million tyres need to be dealt with each year. This report will discuss the current methods of recycling and reusing tyres and also the future techniques to be introduced to the industry. However, I will begin by introducing the history of recycling tyres.
Recycling of rubber began in the early 1800’s, when the industrial manufacture of rubber began. Rubber scraps were ground into shreds and crushed into large blocks that could be reused. In the early 20th Century rubber costs were relatively high, making recycling essential for rubber to be affordable. At this time 50% of rubber content was being recycled, however this was to be short lived due to the introduction of synthetic rubber manufacturing. The influx was caused by the demand for tyres in World War II and cheap oil imports reduced manufacturing costs, which dropped tyre and rubber recycling to just 20%.
Recycling of tyres has encountered many obstacles; in 1943 vulcanisation of rubber was invented and patented by Charles Goodyear. Vulcanisation links all the rubber molecules together into one big molecule, which weather proofs the rubber yet is ultimately difficult to re-separate and recycle. Vulcanised rubber can be reused but only if it is combined with natural rubber, which was in low demand due to the new and lower priced synthetic rubber. In the 1960’s tyre recycling became harder due to the invention of steel-belted radial tyres. The rubber in the tyres could still be ground and shredded, however the steel needed to be removed at this stage, which was expensive and required invention.