As if it were a beautiful Christmas tale, Schwalbe recently told the incredible story of Ingo Ruhland who for 23 years collected tires in the basement beneath his eponymous bike shop in Fresing, Germany. Ruhland did all this with the hope that used tires could one day be recycled instead of incineratedThe moment he had been waiting for so long finally arrived thanks to theinnovative system recently developed by Schwalbe to recycle used tires of all brands, without generating waste.
A long wait
Ingo Ruhland himself talks about his wait, which lasted more than twenty years. «I always hoped that one day Ruhand begins, "if only some company in the tire sector could offer a real recycling system. Now this is possible." A big thank you goes to Schwalbe».
When Ruhand heard about Schwalbe's official presentation of the tire recycling project, he couldn't have been happier: «I was delighted – continues Ruhand – because this was exactly the news I had been waiting for for 23 years».
Ruhland is a convinced cyclist and sees in this system a clear example of sustainability, so much so that he states: «Tires are not waste, but recyclable materialsWe should be more concerned in all sectors with recycling these materials instead of constantly extracting new raw materials." Now the basement of his shop in Freising is empty or, as Ruhland says: "It's finally clean."
Used tires that accumulate at the store in the future will end up directly in the Schwalbe recycling system container and will be collected regularly.
Surprising numbers
Schwalbe's new tire recycling project has so far only involved Germany, immediately attracting the interest of German television and the German press in general. Currently 1.300 retailers have already joined and 400.000 tires were collected for recycling.
The companies involved.
The recycling system implemented by Schwalbe involves the involvement of other companies. A few weeks ago, A delegation from Schwalbe visited logistics service provider Emons and recycling company Pyrum Innovations. The latter operates the world's only tire pyrolysis plant that operates 365 days a year. The visit clearly demonstrated the importance of this partnership to the operation of Schwalbe's recycling system.
Emons collects recycling containers full of used tires from all participating retailers. Used tires are stored in containers and delivered regularly to the Pyrum Innovations headquarters in Dilligen, Germany. Emons is also responsible for collecting used inner tubes.
At the Pyrum Innovations plant, in addition to bicycle tires, mainly used car and truck tires are accumulated. The Dillingen site is growing rapidlyA new building will triple processing capacity by mid-2023. In addition to shredding, the complete recycling process will also take place.
The new recycling process implemented by Schwalbe represents a quantum leap in environmental awareness and ecological responsibility. Until now, used tires were incinerated, raw materials were lost and climate-damaging CO2 was released.. Now it is possible to produce new tires from used ones.
