For decades the default answer to a waste tyre was to burn it or bury it. Cement kilns took them as low-grade fuel; landfills took the rest. That is changing, because the materials inside a tyre are worth more than the heat they give off.
When a tyre is processed, it splits roughly into oil, carbon, steel and gas — about 40, 30, 20 and 10 per cent by weight, according to DNV. Each stream has a market. The question is which route earns most for a given volume, location and tyre mix.
1. Recovered carbon black
Carbon black makes up 15 to 20 per cent of a passenger car tyre, according to Continental. Recovered carbon black (rCB) from pyrolysis can replace part of the virgin material, with emissions estimated by DNV at up to 80 per cent lower. Tyre makers are now signing long-term offtake: in July 2024 Continental agreed a ten-year purchase of rCB from Pyrum Innovations.
2. Reclaimed rubber
Reclaimed rubber is processed so it can be mixed into new rubber compounds, for products such as mats and automotive parts. It keeps the material in use near its original value.
3. Crumb rubber
Shredded and granulated tyres become crumb rubber for sports surfaces, safety flooring, moulded products and mats — among the uses the original Tyrelessly platform supplied in North India.
4. Crumb rubber modified bitumen
Crumb rubber blended into bitumen is used in road surfacing. India's tyre EPR rules recognise crumb rubber modified bitumen as one of five end products that can earn a recycling certificate.
5. Tyre-derived fuels
Tyre pyrolysis oil can substitute for crude, be refined into synthetic fuels, or be sold as fuel oil. In India it is recognised as a recycling output, but only for use as fuel, not as a raw material for new tyres. The longer-term prize is refining it towards low-carbon fuels for aviation.
Scrap steel, a fifth of a tyre by weight, already sells through mature supply chains.
What each route needs to scale
The barriers are similar across all five:
- Consistent feedstock. Buyers name supply consistency as their largest risk (DNV). A plant needs a steady, sorted stream of tyres.
- Consistent quality. rCB can contain up to 40 per cent inorganic residue, against more than 95 per cent carbon in virgin carbon black. Buyers want standard specifications.
- Offtake before capacity. Long-term purchase agreements, like Continental's with Pyrum, are what make a plant possible.
- The right rules. Recognition under EPR in India, and waste regulation in the UK, decide which routes pay.
- Capital. Plants are hard to fund without the four points above in place.
The highest-value route is rarely the same for two holders of tyres. It depends on what the tyres are, where they are, and who will buy what they become. That is the work of finding the route.
Related: Recycling routes and market access.