Pirelli-led partnership targets tire-to-tire circularity

Milan — A consortium of leading tire industry players led by Pirelli has launched a European initiative to advance tire circularity by transforming scrap and end-of-life tires (ELTs) into recycled materials for new tire manufacture.

Pirelli, Pyrum, Synthos and BASF are jointly developing “an industrial ecosystem” designed to increase the use of recycled materials derived from ELTs, the companies announced on 22 July.

The initiative will use waste tires collected across Germany, including from selected Driver retail outlets, motorsport activities, as well as production scrap from Pirelli's Breuberg tire plant, in Germany.

The tires are processed through an industrial chain designed to "maximise their inner value", converting them into secondary raw materials — including synthetic rubber — certified under the ISCC+ scheme.

According to the partners, the certification ensures traceability throughout the value chain and enables the recycled materials to be reintroduced into the manufacture of new Pirelli tires while maintaining "the highest standards of quality and performance."

Within the process, German ELT recycler Pyrum will use pyrolysis technology to convert ELTs and scrap tires into two secondary raw materials: recovered carbon black (rCB) and tire pyrolysis oil (TPO).

The rCB is upgraded and reintroduced into Pirelli's European tire production, partially replacing virgin carbon black.

Meanwhile, the TPO is supplied to BASF, which will use it alongside fossil-based feedstock to produce chemical intermediates including butadiene and styrene.

Using a mass-balance approach, the recycled content is attributed to BASF's ISCC+-certified Cycled products, which will then be used by Synthos to manufacture ISCC+-certified synthetic rubber for high-performance tire applications.

The synthetic rubber is subsequently supplied to Pirelli for use in new tire production, completing what the partners described as a "tire-to-tire" circular value chain.

"The project perfectly reflects that genuine product circularity cannot be achieved by a single company acting alone," the partners said in a joint statement.

Instead, circularity "requires creating industrial ecosystems involving players with complementary expertise", each contributing to different stages of the material transformation process, they added.

The consortium said the project represents "the most comprehensive application of this approach to date", demonstrating how ELTs can become a valuable resource within a "structured and traceable industrial loop."