Industry Insight | Getting the Most Value from End-of-Life Tires: Five Recycling Routes Compared
The world generates about 30 million tonnes of end-of-life tires every year, and Taiwan around 150,000 tonnes. Made of rubber, carbon black, steel and fibre, tires are durable and do not break down naturally. Where they end up decides whether they are burned or returned to industry. Below we compare five common routes and share Enrestec’s view.
Five routes at a glance
| Route | Main output | Strengths | Limitations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Retreading | Retreaded tires | Extends tire life directly; the most resource-efficient | Only for sound casings, mainly truck and bus tires |
| Crumb rubber & civil uses | Granulate, crumb, sports surfaces, rubberised asphalt | Mature technology, lower investment | Limited added value; demand tied to construction |
| Reclaimed rubber | Reclaimed rubber | Returns rubber to some rubber products | Lower properties than virgin rubber; limited blend ratios |
| Tire-derived fuel (TDF) | Heat, steam | High throughput at low cost; Taiwan’s main outlet today | Material value is burned away, with ongoing combustion emissions |
| Pyrolysis | Recovered carbon black (rCB), tyre pyrolysis oil (TPO), steel | Takes tires back to raw materials that re-enter tire and chemical supply chains | High capital and technical barriers; requires stable production and quality control |
Ranking by resource value
Under the circular-economy hierarchy, reuse comes before recycling, and recycling into materials comes before burning. Retreading is the first choice; once a tire can no longer be used, material recovery (crumb rubber, reclaimed rubber, pyrolysis) beats energy recovery. Pyrolysis is one of the few routes that takes tires back to industrial raw materials — carbon black, oil and steel — that can re-enter tire and chemical supply chains rather than only low-grade uses.
In Taiwan most end-of-life tires are still used as fuel, and only a small share goes to pyrolysis. As global tire brands set recycled-content targets and carbon accounting and product carbon footprints become standard requirements, demand for verifiable recycled materials is rising fast, and industry studies expect the global recovered carbon black market to keep growing rapidly this decade.
Our view
1. The routes complement each other. Sound casings should be retreaded first, and fuel still has a role for high-volume, low-cost disposal. Pyrolysis turns tires that would otherwise be burned into high-value materials, raising the resource value of tire recycling as a whole.
2. Pyrolysis succeeds on stable production. The principle is simple; the hard part is long-term stable operation and consistent product quality. Enrestec opened the world’s first 24-hour commercial waste-tire pyrolysis plant in Pingnan in 2013, and our continuous system runs at over 90% uptime — the prerequisite for tire makers to adopt the products.
3. Product value comes from quality and verifiability. Verified under ISO 14067, our recovered carbon black has a carbon footprint 48.95% lower than conventional carbon black, and our pyrolysis oil 65.53% lower than fuel oil; we are also ISCC PLUS certified. For buyers, verifiable carbon data and traceability matter as much as physical properties.
4. Lower the investment barrier with front-end design. Pyrolysis plants require significant capital and know-how. Enrestec supplies pyrolysis equipment and technology licensing, and recommends starting with a 4–6 month Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) to clarify feedstock, site and product plans before the investment decision. Learn more: Equipment Sales.
Reference: City Green Eco Materials, comparison of tire pyrolysis and other rubber recycling routes (3 July 2025, in Chinese). This article is Enrestec’s summary and opinion; carbon footprint figures are from Enrestec’s 2025 Sustainability Report.