Scrap Tires Flow to Developing Countries: Pyrolysis Reshapes the Industry

Statistics from the UK Tire Recovery Association show that the UK generates about 50 million scrap tires each year, nearly 700,000 tonnes, half of which are exported to India; about 70% of the tires arriving in India enter pyrolysis furnaces.

The UK Parliament has announced that the UK disposes of about 600,000 tonnes of scrap tires each year, of which about 350,000 tonnes are shipped to India; of the remaining 250,000 tonnes, some are exported to Turkey and Morocco for cement manufacturing, and some are processed domestically in the UK into asphalt materials.

Scrap tires from the United States flow to India and Kuwait; 80% of Australia's end-of-life tire-derived materials are shipped overseas, and often flow to developing countries such as Malaysia and India; Lithuania also sends thousands of tonnes to India each year.

The trade flow characteristics of global waste rubber feedstock (scrap tires, waste rubber products) are clear: mainly from developed countries to developing countries.

The EU is tightening export controls on scrap tires. The UK Tire Recovery Association (TRA) has called on the European Commission to reconsider the proposed exemption for end-of-life tires exported to India, arguing that country guarantees and document checks are insufficient to ensure that exported tires go through legal recycling channels.

Globally, as countries tighten restrictions on cross-border waste transfers, the trend toward localized disposal will become more obvious in the future.

Against this background, demand for scrap tire treatment technology is stronger, and requirements are stricter. At present, in addition to traditional methods such as retreading and producing reclaimed rubber, scrap tire pyrolysis has developed widely in recent years.

Pyrolysis technology utilizes the thermal instability of organic matter to decompose and reorganize macromolecular organic matter into gaseous, liquid, and solid components with relatively smaller molecular weights under oxygen-deficient and high-temperature conditions. It is the most ideal path for rubber resources to be "used to the fullest" and is also called the "ultimate means" of tire life.

Taking the industry's technology path as an example, continuous tire pyrolysis equipment has become key. In this segment, Niutech is one of the representative companies with a broad global layout. Its independently developed industrial continuous scrap tire pyrolysis production line won the National Science and Technology Progress Award. Tire pyrolysis equipment decomposes old tires to produce high-value-added products such as recycled oil, carbon black, steel wire, and combustible gas, realizing the process of converting tires into fuel and other high-value products. Tire pyrolysis oil has a wide range of uses and can achieve multifunctional, high-value applications. Compared with traditional scrap tire recycling methods, pyrolysis products have very high economic value and achieve an innovative breakthrough in business model.

The spillover benefits of pyrolysis are significant. For every 1 tonne of scrap tires treated with pyrolysis technology, about 1.1 tonnes of CO2 emissions can be reduced compared with the production of virgin materials.

Niutech's new-generation industrial continuous pyrolysis production line has a single-unit daily processing capacity of more than 100 tonnes; the entire production line has more than 130 patents and is equipped with a fully automatic intelligent control system, implementing real-time online monitoring of nearly 20,000 control points in equipment and processes.

Niutech's independently invested and operated Shandong scrap tire pyrolysis comprehensive utilization project has been operating stably for more than ten years and has been awarded "National Key Environmental Protection Practical Technology Demonstration Project" and "China Scrap Tire Pyrolysis Demonstration Base"; in March 2026, the phase II expansion project with an annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes was launched, and after completion, the overall annual disposal scale will reach 160,000 tonnes.

Overseas, this technology has achieved industrial implementation in dozens of countries, including Germany, South Korea, and Brazil. The successful delivery of the Germany project marks that its equipment has met the stringent EU and German standards in terms of environmental protection and technical performance; the Hungary project, as an EU-funded project, has all test indicators meeting EU requirements and has been established as an EU standard demonstration project.