Recycled Polyester Tyres

Continental has found a use case in PET Bottles. Sumesh Soman looks at the commercialisation of recycled polyester tyres.

- Sumesh Soman

Polyester is in vogue! Tyre manufacturer Continental realised it and was quick to tap the pool of recycled PET bottles or PolyEthylene Terephthalate commonly used for packaging 70 per cent of the soft drinks. Hailed as light, durable, safe and with a smaller carbon footprint compared to alternatives, it's the most recyclable plastic globally. Using PET bottles in production makes the manufacturer the first to make use of recycled polyester yarn in a new process for volume production. The new high-performance material will be initially used in selected sizes for Continental's PremiumContact 6 and EcoContact 6 summer tyres, and in the AllSeasonContact tyre. In effect, the company claims to have replaced the conventional polyester in the carcass of the selected tyres. A set of standard passenger car tyres uses the material from around 40 recycled PET bottles.