REG

Home · Regarding discarded tires

About REG

Regarding discarded tires

What actually happens with discarded tires?

Have you ever really asked yourself what happens to your old tires after the tire dealer's removed them?

In the next few lines we want to give you an idea of just what happens with tires that have been withdrawn from service:

As a rule, a waste disposal management company provides every tire dealer with a container for collecting discarded tires. When these containers are full, the waste disposal company comes and picks them up and leaves the right empty containers in their place.

Here a full container is being replaced at a collection point - in this case at a tire specialist's dealer..
	After being picked up, the discarded tires are brought to a sorting point run by the waste disposal management company. They are kept here for further examination. Under the federal emissions protection law, such sorting points are subject to approval.
The tires are evaluated by a tire specialist: The specialist looks for punctures or other damage to the tire and then sorts them by size and quality.
	Tires that are qualitatively suitable for retreading are pulled and stored separately for sale to retreading companies. As a rule, only brand products - Continental, Michelin and the like - are used for retreading purposes.
Retreading a truck tire: The worn tread is ground off and a new tread applied. In this way the tire is given a new lease of life. The tire is then returned to the specialist trade where it is sold as a "retread". Retreads are an economical alternative to new tires, which can be quite costly.
	An example of alternative uses for discarded tires: Soundproofing walls made of old tires (Fa. D+D Schalltec GmbH, Langenhagen)
Discarded tires that are not good enough to be recycled are shredded already at the sorting point.
	The tires are put through the shredder a number of times until the desired fragment size is obtained.
A large portion of these fragmented tires are delivered to cement plants, where they are used to fire the furnaces. The tires can also be sent to pyrolytic facilities for recovery of their heavy-oil content.	Cement works operated by Fa. Alsen in Lägerdorf (Source: Fotocentrum Zimmermann for Alsen AG)
	To make sure that the discarded tires are not simply dumped somewhere in the open, the waste disposal management companies are required by law to exactly document what happens with each and every tire picked up. This documentation provides clear evidence of the quantities and material flows. This is verified at the time of technical inspection board certification and at other times as well. By way of information: REG works only with certified partner companies.