For 23 years, Ingo Ruhland collected tyres in the basement below his bike store in Freising, Germany, hoping that the used tyres could eventually be recycled instead of incinerated
Now around 20,000 tyres have been fed into the Schwalbe Recycling System, which began as a pilot phase in January 2022.
Ruhland said::“I always hoped that one day some company in the tyre industry would manage to offer real recycling. Now that has worked – a big thanks to Schwalbe.”
Ruhland is a committed cyclist, and he sees the sustainable approach as a prime example. “The tyres are not trash, they are recyclables. We should be more concerned in all areas to recycle such material instead of always mining new raw materials.”
The tyres will be sent to Pyrum Innovations who will granulate the tyres and then use a thermolytic process to reduce them to process gas, oil and recovered carbon black to be recycled into new Schwalbe products.
Schwalbe began the pilot phase in January 2022 with around 50 dealers, and by the end of November the number had already reached more than 1,300.
The Schwalbe Recycling System for tyres is currently only available in Germany, whilst the logistics are arranged for other countries in Europe. To be informed when the service will be available in the UK email recycling@schwalbe.co.uk. Email the same address to register for the Schwalbe tube recycling programme, which is operating in the UK.
Source: Bike Bits Image Schwalbe
