Tyre recycling - A decisive contribution to our environment

"What actually happens to my old worn tyres?" - a question that very few people actually ask themselves when buying new tyres. Especially as when buying new tyres - for example at A.T.U - used tyre disposal is often offered at the same time. But what exactly happens afterwards? Do the old tyres simply go to landfill, do they end up in the environment in an uncoordinated way or are they incinerated? In fact, around half of the used tyres produced in Germany are still used as substitute fuel. The A.T.U subsidiary ESTATO Umweltservice GmbH takes a different approach - here, all used tyres to be disposed of from Germany's largest garage chain as well as additional disposal volumes from external supply partners are recycled in an environmentally friendly and professional manner. As one of Europe's leading tyre recyclers, ESTATO processes around 8 million used tyres every year. The recycling company works closely with TÜV Süd, is a certified specialised waste management company and
was honoured as a founding member of the Bavarian Environmental Pact for its sustainable use of raw materials. There is also a certified quality management system for the recycling of used tyres, which has been successfully operated for years in conjunction with energy management in accordance with standard specifications at all locations. In addition to used tyres, the company also recycles 95 percent of all waste that continues to accumulate in the A.T.U Group's workshops. In addition to used batteries and packaging, this also includes scrap metal and vehicle fluids.
The journey of an old tyre can be illustrated at A.T.U by way of example: In each of the almost 600 branches, customers' worn tyres are first collected on site. Thanks to the company's own delivery and collection logistics, these tyres are transported to the two central ESTATO locations in Weiden and Werl in a fixed cycle with the return journeys after the goods have been delivered to the branches - this also avoids unnecessary empty lorry journeys.
After delivery to ESTATO, the condition of each individual car tyre and the possibilities for reuse are first checked. The company acts strictly in accordance with the guidelines of the European Union and the requirements of the waste hierarchy. Working in shifts, employees check several thousand tyres every day for size, tread depth, overall condition, damage, load capacity, manufacturer and speed restrictions. Around 30 percent of the tyres checked can currently be used on secondary markets worldwide. The buyers are companies and wholesalers who either retread the tyres or sell them abroad as used tyres. The remainder of tyres that are no longer suitable for this purpose are processed and recycled directly.

Recovery of raw materials

After the initial inspection, the non-reusable tyres are transported on conveyor belts to a multi-stage, purely mechanical treatment process. This process makes it technically possible to break down car tyres into their original components. These consist of around 60 percent rubber, with the remainder being textile fibres and metal wire: "We produce around 65,000 tonnes of high-quality secondary raw materials such as rubber granulate, tyre textiles and steel remnants from the more than seven million used tyres every year," explains Alexander Prokein, Managing Director of ESTATO.
To do this, a shredder tears the tyres into palm-sized pieces at the start of the recycling process. The blades of another machine, the so-called "Tyre Rasper", then shred the material to such an extent that the small pieces of rubber can be magnetically separated from the metal on a vibrating belt. The rubber chips then pass directly through further fine granulation steps: the pieces are processed further using special granulators and sophisticated cleaning and screening technology until the individual components are completely separated from each other. The resulting rubber granules can be supplied just-in-time in various qualities and grain sizes based on individual customer requirements. The textile fibres released during the process - around a quarter of a tyre - are simply extracted in the respective shredding stages. Due to its composition, the textile cord can be used very well as a primary material in cement works or as a substitute for natural raw materials for energy production.

Leading the way in tyre wire post-cleaning

In addition to rubber and textile fibres, a third material is produced during tyre recycling: Steel - which makes up around 17 percent of tyres. ESTATO is a German pioneer in the field of tyre wire cleaning and the largest recycler of wire recovered from old tyres. The first tyre wire cleaning system was installed back in 2006 and the process has been continuously improved. As a result, the steel remnants can be further refined. The state-of-the-art equipment reduces the degree of contamination of the tyre wire to less than three percent. At the end of the new post-cleaning process, the clean metal threads, which are just under one centimetre long, are of a quality that the steel industry classifies as the second best on a scale of one to eight. In the near future, ESTATO is even aiming for the best product status of "pure iron".

Rubber granulate for new everyday products

In contrast to tyre wire, the rubber obtained during recycling does not require any additional and costly post-processing. ESTATO's rubber granules and rubber flours were even recognised as a "top recycled product" by the NEW LIFE initiative at the beginning of 2020. "An important award that once againThis underlines the high recycling rate of over 80 per cent of our products and thus their sustainability," says Alexander Prokein.
The range of applications and possible uses for the recycled products are very diverse. Processing companies in the rubber industry, many of which are co-founders of the NEW LIFE initiative, use the granulate with a grain size of between one and four millimetres to produce, for example, impact protection slabs for children's playgrounds or flooring. The material also ends up in bitumen roof covers, noise-absorbing underlays for railway crossings and track beds, in running tracks for sports facilities and in protective mats for animal husbandry.
"Unfortunately, almost half of all used tyres in Germany are still incinerated to generate energy - especially in cement works. But this wastes important raw materials," says Estato Managing Director Prokein, "which makes our sustainable, resource-saving tyre recycling model all the more important. In this way, we are making a decisive contribution to our environment."