In today’s Finshots, we tell you how tyre manufacturers are trying to go green and why that might be tougher than it seems.

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The Story

Natural rubber is the backbone of tyres. It makes up 20-40% of their weight. In fact, tyre manufacturers gobble up nearly 70% of all natural rubber produced, making them its biggest consumers.

But lately, global rubber prices have been on a rollercoaster. The supply took a hit after Thailand and Indonesia, two of the world’s largest producers, faced unexpected production drops. Poor weather in these regions threw a spanner in the wheel, making it harder for them to meet the growing demand.

And as if that wasn’t enough, shipments of Technical Specified Rubber (TSR) — a special type of processed rubber from Africa’s Ivory Coast — got caught in the Red Sea crisis, where attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels delayed imports. That forced shipments to take a longer route around the Cape of Good Hope, which not just added weeks to delivery times but also pushed freight rates up by 3-4 times.

To make matters worse, domestic rubber prices typically trade at a 10-15% premium to global rates. So with prices through the roof at over ₹200 per kg just a few months ago, tyre manufacturers hit pause on buying rubber. They could temporarily afford the privilege, thanks to the ample stock of finished tyres they already had. And with no takers for rubber, prices crashed by a staggering 17% in October alone.

And it’s these wild swings in rubber prices that have been eating into tyre makers’ profit margins. That has left them no choice but to get creative.

For instance, companies like Apollo Tyres are now exploring sustainable materials to cut costs while keeping up with India’s growing demand for tyres. To put this in perspective, India became the third-largest automobile market in the world by vehicle sales in 2023, surpassing Japan. And with the auto sector booming, it’s no surprise that the demand for tyres is skyrocketing.

Their idea is simple. If natural rubber keeps throwing curveballs, why not invest in research to create bio-based, innovative materials for tyre production? Until that happens, they could rely on recycled rubber from old, scrapped tyres and fold it into the production process. That wouldn't just bring them closer to their sustainability goals, but could also reduce their reliance on unpredictable natural rubber.

After all, India is literally a dumping ground for waste tyres. In 2023 alone, over 8 lakh tonnes of used tyres were imported from developed countries like the UK and other parts of Europe. Only a small percentage of these are sold as replacement tyres, while most are retreated using pyrolysis, a process that liquifies old tyres into cheap industrial oil. The rest though, is dumped into landfills or burned. In fact, close to a whopping 3 lakh tyres are discarded in India every single day!

So reusing these end-of-life tyres is like killing two birds with one stone. First, it shields manufacturers like Apollo Tyres from volatile raw material prices. And second, it’s an environmentally sustainable move since it could cut nearly 70% of the carbon dioxide emissions that come from dumping or burning tyres.

“How thoughtful of these tyre companies”, you might think. “They’re not just cutting costs but also thinking about the environment.”

But don’t be too quick to buy into their green claims because here’s the catch. Simply swapping out tyre materials or recycling old tyres doesn’t automatically make them more sustainable. Because no matter what, tyres do one thing they are supposed to do. They roll. And as they roll, they create something called tyre and road wear particles (TRWPs) or simply tiny bits of rubber that are released when tyres rub against the road.

Each year, tyres release a staggering 6 million tonnes of them. To put that in perspective, these particles are typically around 100 micrometres long — about the width of a human hair. That makes them the second-largest source of microplastic pollution, just behind single-use plastics.

But while the environmental impact of TRWPs is still a bit of a mystery, one thing is clear. A chemical called 6PPD, which is added to tyres to stop them from degrading, is tied to a shocking environmental problem. In 2020, researchers at the University of Washington discovered that this chemical, when broken down, is linked to mass die-offs of coho salmon in Seattle, while also being toxic to other fish species like rainbow trout, arctic char and white sturgeon.

What’s even scarier though, is that research shows when tyre particles like 6PPD are spread on farmland through sewage sludge, wind or wastewater, they can end up in crops. This means that the pollutants could enter our food chain, posing a potential risk to human health too.

And that implies one important thing. Tyre makers can’t just rely on recycled rubber from old tyres alone. They need to do more.

Sure, they’re doing that, but there’s more to the story. For example, they’re working on reducing a tyre’s rolling resistance or the amount of energy a tyre uses to move forward on the road. This could  reap two big benefits.

For one, it could reduce the release of TRWPs into the air. And two, it could improve fuel efficiency. In fact, just a 30% increase in rolling resistance can lead to 3-5% more fuel consumption. So, almost every tyre maker, including Apollo Tyres, is ramping up their research into reducing rolling resistance. Besides, companies like Goodyear, which aims to have tyres made entirely of sustainable materials by 2030, are already using silica made from rice husk ash in some of their factories, as it helps lower rolling resistance.

But you know what’s the challenging part? ― Cutting down the release of 6PPD.

It’s tough, because reducing 6PPD really means creating tyres that wear out much quicker. In fact, if you remove 6PPD from tyres altogether, they could fail after just 160 to 1,600 km of use. And in case you didn’t know, the average tyre lasts about 5 years or 50,000 km, whichever comes first.

That’s exactly why some companies, like Finland’s Nokian Tyres, are closely keeping an eye on research into alternatives to 6PPD. They’re looking for solutions that can maintain a tyre’s durability while changing the tyre manufacturing game. Other companies, like the German chemical firm Lanxess, are working on developing chemicals that offer the same benefits as 6PPD. But even that process, they say, is no easy feat.

So yeah, tyre makers may be telling you that they’re cutting down their carbon footprint by using recycled tyres and exploring bio-based materials.

But let’s be real. They’re not truly becoming sustainable if they’re not diving into research that tackles the real issue of reducing or replacing 6PPD. The day they focus on that is when they’ll be on the path to true sustainability.

And as you’ve probably already guessed, they can’t afford to do that right now because it simply means pouring in boatloads of money and pushing up costs, which is exactly what they’re trying to avoid at the moment.

And that folks, pretty much sums up why rubber tyres can’t really go green, at least not for now.

Until then...

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