Michelin and Bridgestone are to reveal plans to increase sustainability and cut emissions in the tyre industry via a joint presentation later this month.

Michelin and Bridgestone are looking to establish a coalition of a stakeholders to accelerate progress and increase supply of recovered carbon black

The two firms are looking to increase the utilisation of recovered carbon black in new tyres, bringing important eco benefits.

Created from petrochemicals, carbon black is used in tyre rubber compounds due to its unique strength, handling, wear and durability features. But less than 1% of all carbon black used globally in new tyre production comes from recycled end-of-life tyres, due to a weak supply pipeline for the recovery and reuse of the material.

That’s despite the fact that an estimated one billion tyres globally reach the end of their service life every year.

But using recovered carbon black in new tyre production reduces CO2 emissions by up to 85% compared to virgin materials.

Now, Michelin and Bridgestone are teaming up to highlight how recovered carbon black presents the opportunity to reduce the tyre industry’s reliance on petrochemicals without introducing performance trade-offs.

At the Smithers Recovered Carbon Black Conference in Amsterdam on 22 November, the firms will reveal their ambition to increase the utilisation of recovered carbon black material in tyres as they say that collaboration with stakeholders across all aspects of the tyre and rubber industry value chain will be needed to deliver this goal.

As such, Michelin and Bridgestone are looking to establish a coalition of a stakeholders, including emerging technology start-ups, to accelerate progress and increase supply of recovered carbon black.

“Increasing use of recovered carbon black in tyres is critical to achieving Bridgestone’s vision for sustainable mobility,” said Jake Rønsholt, vice president of strategy and transformation, Bridgestone Europe, Middle East, India and Africa. “Together with Michelin and other stakeholders, we can generate critical momentum on this important initiative and advance our efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and manufacture products from fully renewable and sustainable materials.”