The German automotive component manufacturer, has announced that its Continental tires containing polyester made from recycled PET bottles are now available to all European dealers.
The plastic bottles used in the technology are sourced entirely from areas that do not have a closed recycling loop. After the caps are removed, these bottles are sorted and mechanically cleaned as part of a special recycling process. As a result, after mechanical shredding, the PET is converted into granulate and then spun into polyester yarn.
Continental claims that a set of standard passenger car tires contains material derived from approximately 40 recycled PET bottles. Continental tires are dependable and dimensionally stable even at high temperatures and loads.
In our innovative recycling process, the fibers are spun from recycled PET without having to break the material down into its components beforehand.
Dr. Andreas Topp, Head of Materials, Process Development and Industrialization of the Tires business area at Continental
The international trade magazine Tire Technology International recently named the company “Tire Manufacturer of the Year” (TTI). Since April 2022, its ContiRe.Tex technology has been in series production. The premium tire manufacturer currently offers three models in five dimensions, all with polyester made from recycled PET bottles: the PremiumContact 6, the EcoContact 6, and the all-season tire AllSeasonContact. All ContiRe.Tex tires feature a “Contains Recycled Material” (CRM) logo on the sidewall.