22/05/2025
Remanufactoring: more innovation to stay competitive
Massimo Condolo
Nobody doubts the benefits of tyres retreaded, but there is a lack of uniform guidelines and uncertainty in the markets does not help. The conference preceding the presentation of the Recircle Awards took the point.
Retreading tyres means saving natural resources, cutting harmful emissions, reducing the cost of running vehicles and creating jobs, yet the situation of the retreading industry shows lights and shadows. The economic situation and US tariffs pose new challenges, and the search for new markets and the implementation of new technologies can, however, give new impetus to this sector, in which Italian industry has always played a very important role. Let's start with the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump on many Asian products: "The lack of outlet on the US market for many low-quality products," explained David Wilson, editor of the specialised magazine Retreading Business, "leads Asian producers to seek an outlet on European markets, without too many scruples because their strategy is to conquer our markets."
Sustainability is an important topic, but it is only on the agenda of the European Union, so in other markets the fight is often unequal. Also working against this are the lack of uniform application of European rules in the various member states and, once again, competition from Asia. "This time," explains Anna-Maria Guth of the German Azur network, "the competition concerns the supply of end-of-life tyres, which are in the grip of Indian, Pakistani and other Asian operators, while European end-of-life tyres have to stay in Europe in order to feed the supply chain properly". There are, however, other virtuous examples in other parts of the world, such as the US and Canadian examples highlighted by Stratton Kirton of Liberty Tyre Recycling: "Since the 1980s we have reduced the number of tonnes of end-of-life tyres dispersed in the environment from one billion to 48 million, with significantly better results in Canada than in the US". The States are in fact held back by legislation that differs from state to state (in some it is missing altogether) and now by Trump's policies that have increased the cost of vira, reduced the focus on sustainability and created uncertainty.
Automation, digitisation, and the implementation of artificial intelligence can help make the cycle efficient and the retreading product safe. "In our factories," explained Regom's Arthur Wagner, "we have installed automatic lines that start by identifying the manufacturer, DOT and codes of each tyre, then proceed to check the condition of the casing and automatically discard those that cannot be retreaded safely". This selection, which will soon be speeded up and made more precise by RFID chips, allows a better quality of the retreaded product but also a correct re-use of the secondary raw materials obtained from shredding end-of-life tyres. "Correct identification of secondary raw materials," echoed Giuseppina Carnimeo, director general of the Ecopneus consortium, "leads us to think in terms not of waste managers but of material managers and allows us to create value with materials that would otherwise be destroyed and to dialogue correctly with all stakeholders".
The Recircle Awards, presented by Retreading Business and Tyre & Rubber Recycling magazines, were presented at the retreading conferences. The person awards went to Haarjeev Kandhari (Vaculug) as best company manager) and Leonardo Oliveira of Vipal Rubber as employee of the year. Among the companies, VM Rubber won as best supplier of retreading accessories and consumables, Italmatic as best supplier of retreading equipment and best innovation in the retreading industry. The best tread supplier was Marangoni (who is also retreader of the year), while for the best tyre recycling supplier the award went to Eco Green Equipment. Regom won the prize for innovation in the tyre recycling sector. Rover Research took the award for corporate innovation), while Liberty Tire and Walmart took home the circular economy award. The Spirit of Retreading award went to 633 Tyres, the Spirit of Recycling to Freee Recycle, and the Spirit of Tread Manufacturing to Galgo. The recycler of the year is Genan, Bolder Industries won the tyre pyrolysis award. The women's prizes went to Christina Guth of Azur Network for the retreading sector, Ifedolapo Runsewe of Freee Recycle the recycling sector. The prize for the tyre recycling sector went to Sdab, inventor of the end-of-life tyre research portal, the prize for training went to Univipal. Mario Marangoni won the lifetime achievement award in the retreading sector; the same award for the recycling sector went to Bengt-Sture Ershag.
Sustainability is an important topic, but it is only on the agenda of the European Union, so in other markets the fight is often unequal. Also working against this are the lack of uniform application of European rules in the various member states and, once again, competition from Asia. "This time," explains Anna-Maria Guth of the German Azur network, "the competition concerns the supply of end-of-life tyres, which are in the grip of Indian, Pakistani and other Asian operators, while European end-of-life tyres have to stay in Europe in order to feed the supply chain properly". There are, however, other virtuous examples in other parts of the world, such as the US and Canadian examples highlighted by Stratton Kirton of Liberty Tyre Recycling: "Since the 1980s we have reduced the number of tonnes of end-of-life tyres dispersed in the environment from one billion to 48 million, with significantly better results in Canada than in the US". The States are in fact held back by legislation that differs from state to state (in some it is missing altogether) and now by Trump's policies that have increased the cost of vira, reduced the focus on sustainability and created uncertainty.
Automation, digitisation, and the implementation of artificial intelligence can help make the cycle efficient and the retreading product safe. "In our factories," explained Regom's Arthur Wagner, "we have installed automatic lines that start by identifying the manufacturer, DOT and codes of each tyre, then proceed to check the condition of the casing and automatically discard those that cannot be retreaded safely". This selection, which will soon be speeded up and made more precise by RFID chips, allows a better quality of the retreaded product but also a correct re-use of the secondary raw materials obtained from shredding end-of-life tyres. "Correct identification of secondary raw materials," echoed Giuseppina Carnimeo, director general of the Ecopneus consortium, "leads us to think in terms not of waste managers but of material managers and allows us to create value with materials that would otherwise be destroyed and to dialogue correctly with all stakeholders".
The Recircle Awards, presented by Retreading Business and Tyre & Rubber Recycling magazines, were presented at the retreading conferences. The person awards went to Haarjeev Kandhari (Vaculug) as best company manager) and Leonardo Oliveira of Vipal Rubber as employee of the year. Among the companies, VM Rubber won as best supplier of retreading accessories and consumables, Italmatic as best supplier of retreading equipment and best innovation in the retreading industry. The best tread supplier was Marangoni (who is also retreader of the year), while for the best tyre recycling supplier the award went to Eco Green Equipment. Regom won the prize for innovation in the tyre recycling sector. Rover Research took the award for corporate innovation), while Liberty Tire and Walmart took home the circular economy award. The Spirit of Retreading award went to 633 Tyres, the Spirit of Recycling to Freee Recycle, and the Spirit of Tread Manufacturing to Galgo. The recycler of the year is Genan, Bolder Industries won the tyre pyrolysis award. The women's prizes went to Christina Guth of Azur Network for the retreading sector, Ifedolapo Runsewe of Freee Recycle the recycling sector. The prize for the tyre recycling sector went to Sdab, inventor of the end-of-life tyre research portal, the prize for training went to Univipal. Mario Marangoni won the lifetime achievement award in the retreading sector; the same award for the recycling sector went to Bengt-Sture Ershag.
