The Leading Journal for the Tyre Recycling Sector

The Leading Journal for the Tyre Recycling Sector

Bicycle Tyres Need a Solution in China

China is still a nation where the bicycle is a key mode of transport. It has a strong network of shared bicycle and electric bicycle provisions. These bikes create a considerable volume of waste tyres every year, and waste bicycle tyres are a different challenge compared to car tyres due to the fine wire causing issues with shredders, and the textile being a difficult to dispose of material.

Sports Courts from Bicycle Tyres

However, China is addressing the issue by installing sports courts in provincial schools across the country.

A basketball court made from more than 2,000 tyres from shared bikes and electric bicycles has been installed at the Nihanzhen Lishu Center Mountain School in Guizhou Province. The sports facility was donated by Meituan, a Chinese technology company that was established in 2010.

The yellow shared bike logo is imprinted on the court.

In recent years, shared bikes and electric bicycles have spread in China because they facilitate the relationships of urban residents. Still, the environmental problems they cause have also come to the fore. “There has been a mature industrial chain of recycling and reusing the metal parts of used shared bikes but recycling and reusing the tyres is still a problem that has yet to be solved,” explained Qin Hao, a staff member at Meituan.

“Our goal is to solve this problem in an environmentally sound way, while providing better play sites for children in remote mountainous areas,” he added. Since the programme was launched on June 5, 2020, Meituan has already donated nineteen such sports facilities and recycled around 42,000 used bike-share tyres.

Source: Spanish People China