Scrap tyres’ expansion to profit the recycling business

By Bharati Kumari

Most tyres used for vehicles in India are made domestically. In India, waste is not just waste anymore, and everyone from small to large industries is super conscious to make pollution-free earth.

There is a persisted growth in all recycling fields, particularly when it comes to scrap tyres. Recycling business not only provides a golden opportunity to earn money but also helps one contribute to the government’s aspiration of creating a pollution-free and less hazardous environment. 

The number of scrap tyres will increase the number of new cars. In the first place, the use of cars is not going to go down in this upcoming generation, so there is going to be more tyres to recycle. On the other hand, the usage of recycled tyres may cause pollution and be hazardous. Further, the tyre and car industries are moving towards using radial tyres, which contain steel and textile, instead of the current traditional Indian diagonal nylon tyres. This may lead to an interest in cleaning the steel from waste tyres.

When tyres become no longer functional due to wear or damage, and can no longer be re-treaded or re-grooved, end-of-life tyres are typically shortlisted for recycling. Tyre recycling is the process of converting end-of-life or unwanted old tyres into material that can be utilized in new products. 

The importance of Tire Recycling can be resolved as old tyres are being increasingly utilized. Old tires provide shelter for small mammals. It also traps water, providing mosquitoes with a seedbed. 

75 per cent of airspace is consumed by tyres in landfills. Apart from this, if tyres trap methane gases they may become buoyant and rise to the surface. Landfill liners that are designed to prevent contaminants from polluting surface and groundwater may result in its shatter. 

Tyres became cheaper since the foundation of synthetic rubber made from cheap imported oil, as well as by the adoption of steel-belted radial tires. Tyres are usually less acutely recycled moreover much difficult to recycle. Consequently, worn-out tyres increasingly found their way to landfills or were often dumped illegally. Fortunately, tyres are now increasing diverted from landfills. 

In India, the tyres are dispersed between recyclers who granulate them for use in either road-building or sports fields, firms that burn them as cheap fuel to make cement or bricks, and legal and illegal pyrolysis plants.

As per the evaluation of India’s Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association, the majority of the imported waste tyres end up in pyrolysis plants. Focusing on the environmental groups and residents living near pyrolysis plants, India is considering to ban the most sophisticated operations.

Last week, the Kamer van Koophandel (KVK) published its latest shortlist to encourage the growth and innovation of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the Netherlands.

Black Bear Carbon, the leading company in recovering high-quality carbon black (CB) from end-of-life tyres, has been shortlisted for the first time in its existence.

Also most recently, tyres seemed to be piled up at Black Bear Carbon recycling facility. Every year, more than 1.5 billion end-of-life tyres enter the global waste stream. Black Bear aims to make new industrial raw materials out of them.

Often, individuals burn tyres, this does more harm than good to the environment. Another key benefit of recycling tyres means that the air isn’t getting polluted by burning the tyres. Recycling will go a long way to the green globe and keep us safe. As tyres are durable and not naturally biodegradable, they remain in dumpsites with little degradation over time, presenting a continuing environmental hazard. It is crucial to find ways for their alternative utilisation by means of recycling.

Photo credits- National geography