WASTE MANAGEMENT IN ACTION – TYRE RECYCLING
ELDAN Recycling is further supporting the growing circular economy.
What to do with growing piles of EOL tyres? ELDAN RECYCLING’S BJØRN LAURSEN EXPLORES THE GLOBAL ACCELERATION OF THE TYRE RECYCLING DOWNSTREAM PRODUCTS MARKET.
A
ccording to the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Tyre Industry Project, the world is projected to generate approximately one billion end-of-life tyres each year. This development demands an increased focus on how to include end-of-life tyres (EOLT) in the circular economy to avoid illegal burning and filling up landfills all over the world. Danish manufacturer of tyre recycling equipment, ELDAN Recycling, has experienced a continued interest in their solutions from customers all over the world despite the COVID-19 situation. Bjørn Laursen, Product Manager for tyres at ELDAN, suspects this
28 / WMR / July 2021
development is the result of a combination of regulatory changes around the world and an increased focus on circular economy and recycling as a profitable business. RECYCLING POTENTIAL Tyres are a good example of how one type of waste can be recycled in many ways. “Products from EOLTs have many uses depending on the level of processing involved,” Laursen explains. “The traditional approach is downsizing and burning them for energy – known as Tyre-Derived Fuel (TDF)”. Most research suggests that emissions are lower for both CO2 and NOx when burning TDF in facilities with proper air pollution
controls compared to traditional fossil fuels. As such, this is a relatively environmentally friendly and a cheap alternative energy source in the cement, paper and other industrial industries. “If processed further and cleaned to industry standards, steel and textile free rubber chips, granules, and powder have a wide variety of usages and sell for more than TDF,” Laursen says. Tyre chips can be used in landscaping and as infill for horse tracks, and granules and powder are used for athletics tracks, playground mats and even shoe soles. Apart from the rubber, almost a quarter of the tyre’s weight is
