Sustainable tire alliance AZuR adds Synthos, Sumitomo Rubber as new partners

Willich, Germany – Alliance Future Tire (AZuR), an initiative to drive forward sustainability in tires, has added two new partners: Synthos and Sumitomo Rubber Industries (SRI).

The new partners bring “significant reinforcements in elementary segments of the sustainable tire circular economy,” said AZuR in a statement 14 Feb.

SRI is the fourth top-10 tire maker to join the alliance, and brings the total of tire makers taking part in the initiative to eight.

Other tire makers that have joined the alliance include Michelin, Bridgestone, Hankook, Apollo, Nokian, Ceat and Schwalbe.

Meanwhile, new AZuR partner Synthos is developing sustainable, resource-saving tire rubber with “an optimised environmental and climate balance.”

AZuR has also joined Dutch innovation network Circular Rubber Platform (CRP), which works to promote a circular economy for rubber in Europe.

The alliance looks to bring together “interests and competencies from all segments of the European tire circular economy,” explained network coordinator Christina Guth.

“Synergies can be exploited and forward-looking processes, technologies and products for a closed circular economy can be jointly developed," she added.

The partnership with Synthos will, in particular, impact the sustainability of tires, as it will also have a positive effect on the secondary raw materials, Guth noted.

SRI’s efforts in sustainable tire production will also help the alliance, as the company’s Falken branded tires already consist of 25% biomass.

Falken aims to significantly increase the proportion of renewable raw materials and recycled materials in its tires, and SRI is developing innovative solutions for the bio recycling of raw materials from used tires.