Schwalbe collects 20.000 used tire from a cellar
For 23 years, Ingo Ruhland collected tires in the basement below his bike store of the same name in Freising. Always in the hope that the used tires could eventually be recycled instead of incinerated. Now the time had come and around 20,000 tires could be fed into the Schwalbe Recycling System.
Ruhland: “I always hoped that one day some company in the tire industry would manage to offer real recycling. Now that has worked – a big thanks to Schwalbe.”
Hard work still awaited Ruhland and his team of five at first, and many buttered pretzels were needed for refreshment. The tires had to be carried out of a former beer cellar and then stacked in a truck container.
When he heard about the official presentation of Schwalbe’s tire recycling in the summer of 2022, his joy was great: “I rejoiced, because this was exactly the information I had been waiting for – for a total of 23 years.” Ruhland is a committed cyclist, and he sees the sustainable approach as a prime example. “The tires are not trash, they are recyclables. We should be more concerned in all areas to recycle such material instead of always mining new raw materials.”
Now the basement is empty, or as Ruhland says, “It’s finally cleaned up.” Used tires that accrue at Radl Ruhland in the future will now end up in the Schwalbe Recycling System recycling box and will be picked up regularly.
TIRE RECYCLING AS AN ECOLOGICAL MILESTONE
Schwalbe is the first bicycle tire manufacturer in the world to take responsibility and take back and recycle used bicycle tires – turning used tires into new ones. And without any waste. Until now, used tires were incinerated, the raw materials were lost, and climate-damaging CO2 was emitted. Schwalbe, together with its project partners Pyrum Innovations and the Technical University of Cologne (TH Köln), has reached an ecological milestone with tire recycling. The recycling process saves 80% CO2 emissions.
Schwalbe began the pilot phase in January 2022 with around 50 dealers, and by the end of November the number had already reached more than 1,300. And the number is growing every day.
