Starting in 2024, PET and PS recyclates, up to 143 yogurt cups and around 12.5 PET bottles will be processed in a Michelin tire, according to reports. The tire company is thus doing the same as its competitor Continental, which recently announced similar plans for 2022. "We want to address society's plastic problem and offer solutions," explains Anish K. Taneja, CEO of Michelin's Northern Europe region (photo). Material for the first 100 tires should be collected during the IAA International Motor Show in Munich (Sept. 7-12, 2021), where Michelin will exhibit the recycling tire. According to figures from the tire manufacturer, nearly four billion PET bottles could be recycled each year to make tire fillers. The fibers for this are to be obtained using depolymerization processes developed by the French start-up Carbios, which Michelin says it has successfully tested. An enzyme is used to depolymerize the PET contained in plastics or textiles. Monomers from colored PET bottles would be used to create high-strength tire fibers after repolymerization, which would meet the tire manufacturer's technical requirements.

Sources:

• Euwid Recycling und Entsorgung 35/2021 (31.8.2021)
• Photo: © Michelin