FTC 2016: Jose Maria Bermejo, Signus director

Jose Maria Bermejo, recovery markets development director of Signus, will give his views on the most important developments in the tire industry and the potential for greater specialisation in recycling tire materials at Future Tire Conference 2016, 24-25 May in Essen, Germany..

What are the greatest challenges ahead of the industry?

The main challenges ahead of the tire recycling industry are, firstly, to manufacture evermore specialised products in terms of both size and quality and, secondly, the modernisation of an industry that initially sought to guarantee the correct treatment of end of life tires without taking into account the destination of the recycled products made but has since endeavoured to come up with applications for the products.

If the recycling industry is to become an important sector of the economy, one of its big challenges is to achieve greater specialisation in recycling sizes, differentiating where possible between different types of materials according to their origins and grain size, hopefully even down to very fine and much cleaner materials.

Over the past few years, what do you think has been the most significant development to have happened in the tire industry?

One significant development in the tire industry in recent years has been the European tire labelling system, which came into force on 1 Nov 2012 and classifies tires according to fuel efficiency, wet grip and external rolling noise, and establishes the requirements for their environmental classification.

It should be remembered that prior to its entry into force most manufacturers had to make considerable adaptation efforts to reduce rolling noise and to adapt also to the directive on type-approval for tires.

What type of progression would do most to improve the future of the tire industry and why?

One of the most important developments in the coming years in the tire industry would be the formulation of new rubber compounds using recycled tire powder. The majority of the big firms on the market would be capable of developing tires that are just as safe and offer similar performance but would use resources more efficiently and have a lower carbon footprint due to the use of recycled materials. In short, more sustainable tires.

Looking in a crystal ball, what big changes do you expect to see in tires and the tire industry by 2030?

One of the major changes we expect to see in the industry in future years is that it will become possible to add increasingly large percentages of recycled raw materials in new formulations.

A society that demands a change in consumer habits needs to recycle everything it can. The use of recycled materials will also lessen our dependence on virgin raw materials and will demonstrate a commitment to production in areas closer to consumption practices.

Future Tire Conference 2016 will be held during the Reifen 2016 /RubberTech Europe expos on 24-27 May in Essen, Germany. For more information, please visit the  Future Tire Conference website.

For registration details, please contact the  conference support team.

About the speaker

Jose Maria Bermejo is the director of the recovery market development of Signus since 2006 with special dedication to the development of different applications of crumb rubber in Spain and also in the developing and supporting R+D projects for the use of rubber from tires in different uses.