Post by account_disabled on Mar 13, 2024 3:22:39 GMT -6
The ban on the use of rubber granules to fill artificial grass football fields and the new regulatory framework opens a new horizon for waste from end-of-use tires By GABRIEL LEAL 5600 readings AUTHOR GABRIEL LEATAGS CIRCULAR ECONOMY SIGNUS activity in 2022 has been in line with that carried out in previous years. Last year, SIGNUS managed 200,614 tons of out-of-use tires, of the almost 290,000 that were generated throughout the national territory. Of these, 23,795 tons were destined to be prepared for reuse. The rest, 176,820 tons of tires at the end of their useful life (NFVU), were valued: 96,801 tons through mechanical separation processes of the tire components (rubber, steel and textile fibers); 77,285 t were used as alternative fuel, replacing fossil fuels in the manufacture of cement and 2,734 tons were used for the generation of electrical energy. The applications of recycled material are multiple and diverse, since at the moment recycled materials from tires, fundamentally vulcanized and recycled rubber, cannot be used to manufacture new tires. One of the largest destinations for rubber granules is the filling of artificial grass football fields, a majority application throughout Europe that will be limited , as the European Commission has taken the first step to restrict the marketing of any synthetic polymeric product, minor 5 mm in size, for use as granular filler in synthetic sports surfaces from 8 years after the entry into force of the modification of the REACH Regulation, expected in September 2031.
An important challenge opens up before us as we have to explore a new destination for the nearly 80,000 tons of rubber that will be orphaned and that will force us to work in the search for new uses with the capacity to absorb all this material. Alternative destinations could be their use in the elastic bases of these artificial grass fields that are manufactured with resins to agglomerate the rubber and become integrated into the product or their use in asphalt mixtures or perhaps in the future, in their chemical recycling through of gasification and CZ Leads pyrolysis processes. However, when we see the objectives established by the draft of the State Waste Framework Plan 2025-2035 for tires at the end of their useful life, the situation generated by this new scenario that we face is not contemplated. We want to trust that article 16 of the new Waste Law approved last year, which establishes Green Public Procurement as a tool to promote the Circular Economy , will be the way through which we can meet these objectives, but to do so It is necessary not only to promote the use of recycled rubber for some applications such as the construction of new pavements, but also to monitor whether this is being achieved. An important challenge opens before us as we have to explore new destinations for the nearly 80,000 tons of rubber that will be orphaned and that will force us to work in the search for new uses with the capacity to absorb all this material. Chemical recycling seems to be also part of the future. A way to obtain synthetic oils, fuels and recovered carbon black among other materials.
This will make it more feasible to achieve this circular economy of the tire, by allowing something that is currently very difficult, using the tire components at the end of their useful life to manufacture new tires. Along these lines, we are developing a project focused on fiber: “Fiber2Fiber” where the chemical recycling of textile fiber is presented as a technological development solution with high potential. The study focuses on the fraction corresponding to polyester fibers, PET, from tires in order to obtain high-value chemical monomers, which can be polymerized again to obtain recycled textile fibers suitable for use in the manufacturing of new tires. In addition to these challenges, the draft new Royal Decree on end-of-use tires and their environmental management is currently in public information , which incorporates many aspects of the new Waste Law, trying to unify the legal regime of collective waste systems. extended producer responsibility (SCRAPS). At SIGNUS we understand that this standard regulates, in more detail, many aspects of management, facilitating, for example, the administrative procedures for authorizations or establishing the need to implement new control and information procedures. Among them, the incorporation as producers of those entities that put tires on the replacement market for the first time from other flows stands out, and the incorporation of the absence of conflict of interest between the management bodies of the SCRAP and the managers of waste, within a framework of relationship with them in which the principles of free competition, equal treatment, and transparency prevail. The prevention of out-of-use tires, also in line with Law 7/2022 on Waste and Contaminated Soils for a Circular Economy, acquires relevance in the project of this new Royal Decree and dedicates an article to Business Prevention Plans with the objective of collecting the measures adopted to fulfill the prevention objectives, to promote the design and manufacture of tires that give rise to a lower environmental impact throughout their life cycle, and to facilitate recycling and valorization of end-of-use tires.