3 million end-of-life tires (ELT) are collected every year across the EU countries. But the way they are processed is far from optimal. Although most of ELT are recycled, one third are still incinerated for energy purposes. These ELT are treated as waste instead of the valuable resource they are.

The consequences of not recycling ELT are continued dependence on non-renewable resources such as oil and extensive CO2 emission to manufacture new tires. This  not only creates climate and environmental challenges, but it is also a poor economic model, as valuable materials from ELT tires are lost.

Many have been in search for economically viable alternatives to the incineration of ELT and Elysium Nordic will change this situation from 2021 by using the patented pyrolysis technology developed by Scandinavian Enviro Systems to recover from ELT materials such a gas, steel, oil and especially carbon black, which is a material that is irreplaceable in the production of tires and other rubber-based products.

The first pyrolysis plant will be built in the port of Nyborg in Denmark with the capacity to recover more than 9.000 tons of carbon black from 30.000 tons of ELT. The plant is the first important step towards a more circular, sustainable and reasonable approach to handling ELT.