AzuR plans to develop its membership and influence in 2022
AZuR Adds Two New Members
AZuR has added two new partners and announced participation in the industry event The Tire Cologne.
Since 2020, the AZuR network has been working towards economically and ecologically sensible tyre disposal. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) had funded the network for ten months, and since June 2021 it has been self-financed under the auspices of the WDK. The network currently has 43 diversified partners.
The aim is to promote cross-industry cooperation between companies, associations, and research institutions. Heidelberg Cement has been an AZuR partner since November 2021. The company is the first thermal recycler in the network. According to AZuR, all recycling methods for used tyres are represented – tyre retreading, material, chemical and thermal recycling.
In addition, Stadtwerke Osnabrück joined the network in December. They are currently planning to build a recycling plant to recover raw materials from used tyres.
AZuR further announced that they will be participating in two trade fairs in 2022: The expansion of the network is to be promoted at The Tire Cologne and K2022.
In order to get closer to the goal of being able to recycle 100 per cent of old tyres in the future, AZuR would also like to intensify its cooperation with universities and research institutions.
Various project groups have been formed within the network, which deal intensively with the topics of “retreading”, “material recycling” and “thermal recycling“. A new addition is the “Rubber asphalt” project group.
The focus of the AZuR activities this year is also the retreading project “Ecological and economic assessment of the retreading of old vehicle tyres”. The project was presented in July 2021 together with the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU). Retreading offers considerable potential for resource conservation.
A website that is about to be launched should be a contact point for information about an extended circular economy, in which products are used as long and efficiently as possible.
The results of a life cycle assessment conducted by the Fraunhofer Institute UMSICHT for two commercial vehicle tyre dimensions are also expected. The life cycle assessment is intended to provide current figures on the quality of retreaded tyres.
Source: AZuR
