plastic
Recycled plastic bottles in the first Conti tires
Continental is now also using plastic made from recycled plastic bottles to make its car tires. Photo: Continental AG/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The production of plastics consumes a large amount of fossil hydrocarbons from oil and gas. Continental is breaking new ground with recycled plastic bottles for its tires.
Continental is now also using plastic made from recycled plastic bottles to make its car tires. The Dax group is thus implementing a project that it announced last year before the IAA motor show.
Now the first copies from the new series production are coming onto the market, it was said in Hanover.
It is about replacing normally produced polyester compounds with a polyester yarn, which is obtained from recycled quantities of the classic plastic bottle plastic PET. Crushed bottle material can be returned to the value cycle of the tires without further chemical reaction steps.
The process will initially be used on some summer and one year-round models, the company said. They come from the plant in Lousado, Portugal. For a set of standard car tires you need about 40 recycled PET bottles.
Conventional plastics production – like many processes in industrial chemistry – devours large quantities of fossil hydrocarbons from oil and gas mixtures. Tire manufacturers, who, in addition to rubber, above all need malleable plastics, are therefore trying to convert parts to recycled material. There is also growing concern that Russian gas supplies may be cut if the war against Ukraine continues. Michelin, for example, teamed up with its partner Enviro to develop soot and other substances
reclaim before they enter new tires or conveyor belts
Find. The French want to use recycled plastic from 2024.