- By 2050, Michelin tyres will be made entirely from renewable, recycled, bio-sourced or otherwise sustainable materials.
- This objective was a result of powerful R&D capabilities and bold partnerships with innovative start-ups.
The Michelin Group is committed to making its tyres 100 per cent sustainable by the year 2050. Currently, nearly 30 per cent of the components used in the manufacturing of Michelin tyres are already made from natural, recycled, or otherwise sustainable raw materials.
A Michelin tyre is a product comprising more than 200 ingredients. While the main one is natural rubber, it also comprises ingredients such as metal, fibres, and other tyre structure-strengthening components like carbon-black, silica, and resins.
To steadily reduce a tyre’s environmental impact, Michelin has 6,000 people working in seven R&D centres around the world. The tyre maker disclosed that the commitment of its engineers, researchers, chemists, and developers has led to the filing of 10,000 patents covering tyre design and manufacturing.
It doesn’t end there. Michelin has also partnered with innovative companies and start-ups whose technologies also make it possible to recycle polystyrene and recover carbon black or pyrolysis oil from used tyres. Such processes will enable everything in these used tyres to be recovered and reused in several types of rubber-based production processes.
