A major step toward a circular tyre industry has been launched in Europe as Pirelli, Pyrum, Synthos and BASF partner on a groundbreaking “tyre-to-tyre” initiative that transforms end-of-life and scrap tyres into high-quality recycled materials for new products.

 

Coordinated by Pirelli, the project brings together four industrial leaders to create a traceable, large-scale recycling chain designed to recover the hidden value inside discarded tyres and return those materials to new tyre production.

 

The initiative uses end-of-life tyres collected across Germany — including tyres gathered from selected Driver retail outlets, motorsport activities and scrap tyres generated at Pirelli’s Breuberg plant. Through a carefully integrated industrial process, these tyres are converted into secondary raw materials, including synthetic rubber, certified under the ISCC PLUS scheme to guarantee traceability throughout the supply chain.

 

The recycled materials are then reintegrated into the production of new Pirelli tyres, helping reduce dependence on virgin resources while maintaining the company’s strict standards for quality, safety and performance.

 

At the heart of the process is Pyrum’s advanced pyrolysis technology, which uses high-temperature thermal decomposition in the absence of oxygen to break down end-of-life and scrap tyres. The process produces two valuable materials: recovered carbon black (rCB) and tyre pyrolysis oil (TPO).

 

The recovered carbon black is upgraded and returned directly to Pirelli’s European manufacturing operations, partially replacing virgin carbon black in tyre production.

 

Meanwhile, BASF uses the tyre pyrolysis oil as an alternative feedstock alongside fossil-based materials to manufacture chemical products such as butadiene and styrene. Through a mass balance approach, recycled content is allocated to BASF’s ISCC PLUS-certified Ccycled products.

 

Synthos then uses these circular materials to manufacture ISCC PLUS-certified synthetic rubber for high-performance tyre applications, which Pirelli incorporates back into its production processes — completing the tyre-to-tyre loop.

 

The partners said the project highlights the need for collaboration across industries to achieve genuine product circularity.

 

“The European tyre-to-tyre project represents the most comprehensive application of this approach to date, demonstrating how end-of-life tyres can become a valuable resource within a structured and traceable industrial loop.”

 

The initiative demonstrates how a shared industrial ecosystem — combining recycling technology, chemical expertise, material science and certified processes — can transform waste streams into valuable resources.

 

By connecting tyre collection, recycling, chemical processing and new tyre manufacturing, Pirelli, Pyrum, Synthos and BASF are creating a model for a more sustainable tyre industry and showing how circular production can move from concept to industrial reality.