The Tire Industry Project (TIP) released the End-of-Life Tire Toolkit 2.0, a guide to implementing more sustainable end-of-life tyre management systems, as well as reducing waste and improving circularity within the sector worldwide
The TIP Guide
The latest TIP Toolkit focuses on approaches for developing resilient, transparent and effective ELT management systems in diverse regulatory and market conditions. Designed for policymakers, industry associations and tyre manufacturers, the TIP Toolkit offers insights to the sector’s recyclers, recovery operators, retailers, researchers and civil society organisations. While ELTs and their materials represent a valuable resource for the circular economy, management systems remain highly fragmented, with uneven collection, recovery and recycling outcomes across regions, according to TIP.
The TIP Toolkit found that annually, around 1 billion tyres reach their end of life, equalling approximately 30 million metric tons of ELT annually. While recovery rates are high in developed regions (often 90%+), many emerging markets still struggle with illegal dumping or stockpiling, which poses significant fire and health risks.
The cost of collecting, transporting, and processing ELTs often exceeds the market value of the recovered materials. The Toolkit argues that “gate fees” or environmental fees are necessary to bridge this gap. TIP also emphasised the need for standardised quality specifications for recycled materials (like rCB) to ensure they can compete with virgin materials in manufacturing, calling manufacturers to design tyres that are easier to disassemble or contain materials that are more easily recovered.
The recent ASTM announcement providing a classification system for recovered carbon black will be music to TIP’s ears, since the new classification aims to promote fair competition by enabling quality comparisons within a specific category, rather than across all types of rCB products. The new standard (D8632) was developed by ASTM’s recovered carbon black committee (D36).
The Toolkit also focuses on maturity assessment tools, step-by-step frameworks that help evaluate the effectiveness of ELT management systems across key stages in the ELT process. There are also case studies of ELT management systems from nine countries and action-oriented recommendations designed for core audiences, covering the full ELT value chain from collection and sorting to processing and management.
You can access the full version of the TIP Toolkit here.
Image credit: The Tire Industry Project (TIP)
