The Tire Industry Project (TIP) has launched a toolkit to guide stakeholder efforts toward more sustainable end-of-life tire (ELT) management. Globally, an estimated one billion tires reach the end of their useful lives every year. End-of-life and their materials are an inexpensive, yet valuable, resource for the circular economy that can be used in a variety of applications. Successful management systems foster the circular use of tire materials and help avoid the unregulated dumping of tires.
The Tire Industry Project, formed by the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR), said the toolkit lays out key steps for establishing and enhancing end-of-life tire management, underlining the social, economic and environmental benefits of systems that work well.
The toolkit presents a series of maturity and progress scales for appraising existing end-of-life management systems and signposting checkpoints for system improvements, the TIP says. Good practice case studies from different regions accompany recommendations relevant to different regulatory contexts, potential environmental and health risks, and the development of tire recovery methods, products and applications.
To encourage that stakeholders implement systems that advance the circular economy, the toolkit plots a hierarchy of the many recovery routes available for tires based on their relative circular-economy potential, the TIP says.
