Continental increasing use of recycled materials in tyres

Continental has said that it is increasing the proportion of recycled materials in its tyres.

More plants have recently been converted to use polyester fabric made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles.

According to Continental, this increases the recycled content of many tyre lines by an average of three per cent.

Depending on the tyre size, up to 15 PET bottles are used per tyre. By replacing the material with recycled polyester fabric, Continental says it is saving valuable resources.

Continental presented its own ContiRe.Tex technology for the first time at the end of 2021. It is based on PET bottles that would otherwise not be recycled. These are spun into a polyester yarn without any intermediate chemical steps and can withstand the special stresses in a tyre.

“Reduce, reuse, recycle – this trio is key to more sustainable tyres. Wherever possible, we use recycled materials while maintaining our highest quality standards,” said Jorge Almeida, head of sustainability at Continental Tires.

“Our polyester yarn made from recycled PET bottles is just as strong as conventional polyester yarn. This shows that sustainability, performance, and safety go hand in hand at Continental.”