News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

Mexico’s Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport is incorporating recycled rubber from end-of-life tires into asphalt maintenance on a 6.3-kilometer section of the federal Pachuca-Querétaro highway in Hidalgo. The project, carried out by SICT’s regional center in Hidalgo, covers the section between kilometer 61+500 and kilometer 67+800 on carriageway B, from Portezuelo in Tasquillo to the Hidalgo-Querétaro state border. The works are expected to take approximately two months, depending on operating and site conditions. By using ground rubber recovered from waste tires in the asphalt mixture, SICT aims to combine highway maintenance with circular economy principles, giving end-of-life tires a productive application in road infrastructure while reducing the amount of difficult-to-manage rubber waste.

Ontario is redirecting approximately C$34 million in surplus funds from the former Ontario Tire Stewardship program to registered producer responsibility organizations as the province responds to widespread used tire collection disruptions and growing stockpiles at dealers and collection sites. The funding decision follows amendments to Ontario’s Tires Regulation that raise the mandatory tire management target from 65% to 80% for 2026 and subsequent years and require the collection network to expand from about 4,300 sites to approximately 6,500 from January 2027. The province says the additional funding is intended to help PROs cover the cost of collecting and processing the extra tire volumes required under the higher target while limiting pressure to increase environmental handling fees charged to consumers. The changes come after months of complaints from tire dealers, municipalities and industry groups that used tires were accumulating because collection services were not keeping pace with generation.

HITEC Luxembourg participated in Recovered Carbon Black Asia 2026 in Bangkok, Thailand, marking the company’s first appearance at the Asian edition of the industry event. Over two days, the company engaged with more than 200 professionals from across the recovered carbon black value chain and demonstrated its Individual Pellet Hardness Tester, or IPHT, as a tool for evaluating pellet quality and consistency. HITEC emphasized that reliable batch-to-batch performance remains one of the central requirements for broader commercial adoption of recovered carbon black in tire, rubber and other industrial applications. The company also used the event to strengthen cooperation with regional partners CG Engineering in Thailand and Highest Instruments in China, reflecting growing demand in Asia for quality control, laboratory testing and process monitoring technologies supporting recovered carbon black production.

Global commodities trader Gunvor Group has changed its name to Centalion Group Ltd. and plans to move its corporate headquarters from Cyprus to Singapore following a management-led ownership change. The new identity took effect in October 2026 after an internal referendum in July and is intended to reflect both the company’s new ownership structure and its expansion beyond traditional oil trading into natural gas, metals and power. The development is also relevant to the tire pyrolysis sector because the former Gunvor signed a strategic agreement with Hungary-based New Energy in 2025 to purchase tire pyrolysis oil produced from end-of-life tires for use as refinery feedstock. While the rebranding announcement does not indicate any change to that cooperation, future activities under the agreement would now take place under the Centalion identity.

Bridgestone is expanding its work on recovered carbon black as part of its long-term goal to manufacture products using 100% sustainable materials by 2050, combining internal research with partnerships across the tire recycling, pyrolysis and carbon black industries. Speaking during the recovered carbon black symposium at the 2026 Global Polymer Summit in Louisville, Kentucky, Bridgestone representatives highlighted both the potential of rCB from end-of-life tire pyrolysis and the technical challenges that still limit broader adoption in new tires. The tire manufacturer is working on material qualification, performance consistency, specifications and advanced processing technologies while collaborating with carbon black producers, universities, pyrolysis companies and other tire manufacturers. Bridgestone sees recovered carbon black as an important circular raw material because it can return carbon already contained in end-of-life tires to tire manufacturing, reducing dependence on virgin fossil-based carbon black and helping establish tire-to-tire material loops.

Flexsys has narrowed its search for a replacement for 6PPD to two final candidate molecules and entered a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the U.S. Geological Survey for independent aquatic toxicity testing. The company says both candidates are outside the PPD chemical family, do not form quinone transformation products during use and have met internal and external targets for tire performance, scalability, safety and environmental sustainability. The USGS will now conduct independent testing on the candidates and their transformation products, including effects on Pacific salmon and other aquatic species. Flexsys says the program has moved beyond identifying possible substitutes and is now focused on final validation, regulatory approval, manufacturing scale-up and tire industry adoption. The company is also optimizing process chemistry so that the eventual replacement can be produced using much of the existing intermediate chemistry and manufacturing infrastructure currently used for 6PPD, potentially reducing investment requirements and accelerating commercialization.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company plans to close its chemical manufacturing facilities in Niagara Falls, New York, and Bayport, Texas, in a restructuring expected to eliminate approximately 85 jobs and be substantially completed by the end of 2027. The company approved the rationalization plan on September 29, 2026, as it continues to streamline operations and focus resources on its core tire business. Goodyear expects the closures to result in pre-tax charges of $55 million to $75 million, including approximately $30 million in cash costs associated primarily with plant decommissioning, employee-related expenses and other exit activities. Once implemented, the measures are expected to improve operating income in Goodyear’s Americas segment by approximately $15 million to $20 million annually beginning in 2027.

Enviro has resolved on a new directed issue of shares and warrants to Alumni Capital Limited under its existing equity-based financing agreement, raising approximately SEK 0.75 million before transaction costs. The tire recycling technology company will issue 10 million new shares at SEK 0.07479 per share together with 520,731 warrants issued free of charge. The financing follows a drawdown request under the agreement originally signed with Alumni Capital on May 22, 2026 and later amended on August 26 and September 2. Enviro said the capital is required to support its ongoing company reorganization and that a directed issue is more time- and cost-efficient than a conventional rights issue under the company’s current circumstances. The transaction will dilute existing shareholders by approximately 0.79%, with a further potential dilution of about 0.04% if all newly issued warrants are exercised.

Pyrum generated revenue of €1.743 million between January and June 2026, up from €1.267 million in the first half of 2025. Own work capitalized declined to €1.122 million from €5.214 million, reflecting the completion and transition of major plant components at the Dillingen site into regular operation. Total output consequently fell to €3.787 million from €6.712 million in the prior-year period. The change reflects Pyrum’s transition from construction and capitalization of new equipment toward commercial production at its expanded tire recycling facility.