ELT stands for "end-of-life tyres", i.e. tyres that can no longer be used for their original purpose. As a rule, discarded car tyres and a proportion of truck tyres are used for high-quality recycled products. This ensures that high-quality rubber granules and flours are obtained, which are used as the basis for top-quality recycled products.

Scientific studies have shown that there is no health risk when playing on floors made from recycled ELT material. The ECHA (European Chemicals Agency) explains in its Study 2017that there is at most a very low risk of "discouraging people from playing sports on artificial turf that contains recycled rubber granules as infill material". In addition, the granules are cleaned intensively so that they are dust-free and inhalation of dust can be ruled out.
Depending on the test method, very small quantities of PAHs can escape into the soil. One Study by the Fraunhofer Institute shows that the migration of PAHs into the human body is well below the limits defined as critical.

The Danish Technological Institute (DTI) estimates the annual discharge of harmful substances into the groundwater at 2.5 to 36 kg per pitch. If the pitches are optimally designed, maintained and treated, these already limited quantities can be almost completely eliminated.

Artificial turf pitches have recently been criticised because the infill granules are microplastics. In fact, the granules are smaller than 5 mm and therefore microplastics by definition - however, this is not new material, but recycled material - its use as infill granules is clearly preferable to incineration. In addition, the microplastics in artificial turf do not harm people or the environment, as they remain in the soil and are not transported into the body or the oceans.

There are repeated concerns that PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) or dissolved organic carbon compounds are released into the groundwater. These concerns are scientifically unfounded, as the substances remain in the product and therefore pose no risk to humans or the environment (cf. summary of the study by the Fraunhofer Institute (PDF)). Zinc, on the other hand, can be washed out in very small quantities, and different test methods produce different values. In this respect, experts from the Federal Institute for Sports Science are of the opinion that plastic floor coverings can be authorised in individual cases without quality monitoring.

Recycled products made from ELT can contain substances that are harmful to health - however, these are bound in the product and are not bioavailable, i.e. they do not escape from the rubber granules in small quantities, or only under certain conditions, namely under the influence of solvents.

In fact, measurements carried out by renowned institutes prove that even under very strict test conditions, PAHs do not become bioavailable and therefore pose no danger to people who come into contact with them. See summary of the study by the Fraunhofer Institute

In everyday situations such as barbecuing with friends or driving for half an hour in a traffic jam, each of us ingests many times more PAHs than would ever be possible via floors, precisely because it is almost impossible for pollutants to escape without the use of solvents.

The answer is clear: yes. Floor coverings and artificial turf made from recycled materials are many times cheaper than products made from primary raw materials. The costs for products made from primary raw materials can be up to 10 times higher than for recycled products.

You can't tell by looking at the tyres, but each tyre is made up of around 200 different ingredients. Exactly what these are depends on the type of tyre, there are so many: Car tyres, truck tyres, tractor tyres, forklift tyres, aircraft tyres, ... The requirements for all these tyres are different and so is the composition.

The rubber compound usually contains natural rubber, synthetic rubber, but also carbon black and silica. Textile inserts and steel are also used.

For the processing of used tyres as secondary raw materials, this means that not all tyres are the same. Separating tyres into their individual parts is complex, and a consistently high quality must be guaranteed during the production of the secondary raw material despite the different composition of the tyres.

Tyres look black and round - but if you take a look at the manufacturers' research and development departments, you immediately realise that tyres are a high-tech product. The intended use of a tyre is on a vehicle or means of transport. The performance characteristics and ingredients are tailored to this.

There is a conflict of objectives in the production of tyres. First and foremost, tyres should be safe, i.e. have good grip and stop quickly when braking - both in dry and wet conditions. On the other hand, there is the requirement to minimise rolling resistance in order to improve environmental properties. In addition, a tyre should be as quiet as possible in terms of rolling noise. These are just the criteria required by the EU-wide tyre label.

In addition, tyre manufacturers must comply with the restrictions on harmful substances in tyres laid down in EU legislation. The restrictions on plasticisers, for example, have also led to a significant increase in the quality of the granulate obtained from used tyres.

By processing tyres from a wide variety of sources in the recycling plants of the NEW LIFE partners, a product mix is created that guarantees consistently high quality for recycled products.

Natural rubber is painstakingly extracted by hand from rubber trees up to 20 metres high, which are grown on plantations in South East Asia.

To obtain rubber, the bark of the rubber trees is cut into arches by plantation workers. Milky sap (latex) flows out of these openings and is collected in buckets. This latex dries in the air and hardens into rubber. This raw material is used to make products ranging from tyres to balloons and from baby dummies to condoms.