have you ever wondered what happens to your old tyres when you have them professionally disposed of by your garage or tyre dealer when you get new tyres fitted? Most people think: “Well, they’ll just be thrown away”. Or “Farmers always need them to co-ver their silage silos.” Others might think: “They’ll be incinerated, as they can’t be used for anything else,” but far from it!

The NEW LIFE initiative, 2019 emerged from the wdk working group on secondary raw materials and has set itself the task of providing information on the proper disposal and above all the recycling of end-of-life tyres (ELT). Especially in the last few years, an awareness has developed of how important it is to conserve resources and minimise waste by recycling materials and using them in new production cycles. The partners of the NEW LIFE initiative are among the pioneers of this development – some of them have dealt with recycling materials from ELT for decades. The secondary raw materials in the form of rubber granulate and powder produced by this raw material recovery process are the focus of the production of new products – from safety mats to lamps.