In this opinion piece, titled “End-of-Life Tyres: A Silent Ally of Sustainable Cities,” Javier de Jesús Landesa, COO of TNU, explores how recycled tyre rubber can contribute to quieter streets, safer playgrounds, more comfortable public spaces and healthier urban trees.
He argues that cities offer significant opportunities to expand the use of recycled rubber in asphalt, playground surfaces, permeable pavements, buildings and street furniture. With the EU set to prohibit the sale of loose-fill rubber granules for use as infill in synthetic turf from 2031, he calls for greater collaboration between industry, researchers and public authorities, and for recycled rubber to become a more common choice in public procurement and urban development projects.
End-of-Life Tyres: A Silent Ally of Sustainable Cities
Quieter streets, more comfortable public spaces, and soils that let urban trees breathe: end-of-life tyre rubber has enormous potential in our cities. Now is the time to make the most of it, backed by data and public trust.
When we think of a sustainable city, we imagine tree-lined streets, clean public transport, cycle lanes and energy-efficient buildings. We rarely ask what those streets are made of, what materials are used in our public spaces or what resources we consume whenever a pavement, park or square is refurbished.
And yet, much of the future of our cities depends on materials that we barely notice. One of them is under our feet every day, often without us realising it: the rubber from tyres that have reached the end of their useful life.
In 2025, Spain’s two collective compliance schemes for end-of-life tyres (ELTs) treated more than 324,000 tonnes, almost 99,000 tonnes of which were handled by TNU. Steel, textile fibres and, above all, rubber are recovered from these tyres. After shredding, the rubber is converted into granules and powder of different sizes, suitable for a wide range of applications.
The city: a showcase for recycled rubber
Cities are constantly changing. Every year, streets, parks, squares, pavements, playgrounds and sports facilities are refurbished. These routine projects represent an exceptional opportunity to incorporate a material that not only replaces virgin raw materials but can also improve the performance of conventional products.
Quieter streets. When incorporated into asphalt mixtures, rubber reduces tyre-road noise. In 2025, the PERSEUS R&D project, involving technology centre Tecnalia, validated recycled-rubber pavements on a real section of the AP-8 motorway in Bizkaia. The surfaces reduced this noise by between 2 and 5 decibels. This is no minor detail: according to the European Environment Agency, around 92 million Europeans are exposed to harmful levels of road traffic noise, which is associated with approximately 66,000 premature deaths a year.
Safer parks and playgrounds. In children’s play areas, rubber surfaces absorb impacts and help reduce injuries caused by falls. A study published in The Lancet, a leading medical and scientific journal, analysed 330 cases of childhood injuries in parks and found that rubber surfaces had an injury rate five times lower than concrete and half that of bark surfaces. These surfaces can also meet the impact attenuation requirements of the UNE-EN 1177 standard and provide accessible spaces, including for children with reduced mobility or who use wheelchairs.
More comfortable public spaces. Promenades, exercise areas, municipal sports courts and pedestrian routes can benefit from the elasticity and comfort of recycled rubber. These qualities are particularly valuable for older people as society’s population continues to age.
More water in the soil, more trees. Permeable rubber surfaces, such as permeable tree pits, allow rainwater to infiltrate the soil, protect roots and support the growth of urban trees — one of our best defences against heat.
Buildings and street furniture. In construction applications, rubber provides acoustic and thermal insulation. It is also already used in street furniture and urban features that combine durability with low maintenance requirements.
We are not starting from scratch. Commercial applications, real-world projects and research have demonstrated these benefits. What is missing is for such solutions to become the standard choice, rather than the exception, when public authorities tender contracts to refurbish a street or park.
A moment to accelerate progress
There is also a reason not to wait. From 17 October 2031, the European Union will prohibit the sale of loose-fill rubber granules for use as infill in synthetic turf under Regulation (EU) 2023/2055, with the aim of reducing microplastic pollution. This is currently one of the main outlets for recycled rubber. In 2025, this application accounted for 5,303 tonnes of material handled by TNU, representing 12.43% of the materials it sent for material recovery.
New destinations will be needed for this material, and cities could provide them. The next step is to encourage collaboration between the recycling industry, manufacturers, construction professionals, the scientific and healthcare communities, and public authorities. Recycled rubber should be incorporated into public procurement and urban development specifications as a quality solution, rather than simply as an outlet for waste.
A sustainable city is not defined solely by the trees it plants, the energy it saves or the vehicles travelling along its streets. It is also defined by the materials used to build it and, above all, by how those materials contribute to the wellbeing of its residents.
For years, we have focused on finding a second life for tyres. Now we have an opportunity to go one step further: ensuring that this second life also helps improve our own.
