Continental is increasing the proportion of recycled materials in its tires. More plants have recently been converted to use polyester fabric made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. This increases the recycled content of many tire lines by an average of 3%. Up to 15 PET bottles are used per tire, depending on the size of the tire. Continental presented its ContiRe.Tex technology for the first time at the end of 2021, based on PET bottles that would otherwise not be recycled. These are spun into a polyester yarn without any intermediate chemical steps and can withstand the special stresses in a tire.
“Reduce, reuse, recycle – this trio is key to more sustainable tires. Wherever possible, we use recycled materials while maintaining our highest quality standards,” said Jorge Almeida, head of sustainability at Continental Tires. “Our polyester yarn made from recycled PET bottles is just as strong as conventional polyester yarn. This shows that sustainability, performance and safety go hand in hand at Continental.
ContiRe.Tex technology has been used on a small scale since 2022 at the tire plants in Lousado in Portugal, and Otrokovice in Czech Republic. The plants in Korbach in Germany, and Sarreguemines in France have also recently started using recycled PET bottles in series production. The switch to more sustainable materials is an important part of Conti’s sustainability strategy. The tire manufacturer has set itself the ambition of gradually increasing the proportion of renewable and recycled materials to more than 40% by 2030. By then, all new car and light truck tires will contain only high-performance polyester fibers made from sustainable PET. A conventional passenger tire today contains about 15-20% recycled and renewable materials.
ContiRe.Tex was shortlisted for the Environmental Achievement of the Year award at the 2022 Tire Technology International Awards for Innovation and Excellence.
