the need

The need for efficient and effective recycling technologies has never been clearer, particularly in consumer orientated societies. On a global scale an estimated 500 million tonnes of waste is generated each year.

Waste rubber continues to attract a high level of attention with more than 10 million tonnes of rubber being scrapped annually (more than 60% of this being in the form of tyres) and with known stockpiles in excess of 20 million tonnes.

There are growing concerns regarding the environmental impact of these rapidly growing stockpiles.

As current technology does not enable true recycling of rubber, efforts have been focussed on the extension of the product’s working life, the chemical regeneration of the material, the ‘downcycling’ of the material into lower specification applications and the recovery of energy from the material through incineration. Clear limitations are associated with each of these approaches.

In order to further focus attention on this problem legislation has been drafted, particularly in Europe and America, which eliminates the disposal of rubber in landfill sites and increases the requirement on manufacturers to include recycled materials in their new products.