Continental ups share of renewable, recycled material in its tyres, aims for 40%-plus by 2030
Continental Tires is increasing the proportion of recycled materials in its tyres.
More tyre plants have now been converted to use polyester fabric made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles.
This increases the recycled content of many tyre lines by an average of 3%, says the manufacturer.
Depending on the tyre size, up to 15 PET bottles are used per tyre.
Continental presented its own ContiRe.Tex technology for the first time at the end of 2021.
The tech is based on PET bottles that would otherwise not be recycled.
The bottles are spun into a polyester yarn without any intermediate chemical steps, and can withstand the special stresses placed on a tyre.
"Reduce, reuse, recycle – this trio is key to more sustainable tyres,” says Continental Tires sustainability head Jorge Almeida.
“Our polyester yarn made from recycled PET bottles is just as strong as conventional polyester yarn.”
The ContiRe.Tex technology has been used on a small scale since 2022 at the tyre plants in Lousado, Portugal, and Otrokovice, Czech Republic.
The plants in Korbach, Germany, and Sarreguemines, France, have now also started using recycled PET bottles in series production.
Continental Tires has set itself the goal of gradually increasing the proportion of renewable and recycled materials to more than 40% until 2030.
By then, all new car and light truck tyres should contain only high-performance polyester fibres made from sustainable PET.
A conventional passenger tyre today contains about 15% to 20% recycled and renewable materials.
By 2050 at the latest, Continental aims for all of its tyres to be made from 100% sustainable materials.
The tyre maker says 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/or PET bottles.
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