Recycled End-of-Life Vehicle Tires Converted into Energy

One of Turkey's leading integrated zero-waste projects, the recycling facility in Erzincan processes thousands of end-of-life vehicle tyres and converts them into electrical energy, powering 20,000 households while making a significant contribution to the country's economy.

Thousands of end-of-life vehicle tyres in Erzincan are processed at a recycling facility that is among Turkey's leading integrated zero-waste projects, converted into electrical energy and contribute USD 8 million annually to the economy. Turkey generates approximately 400,000 tonnes of waste vehicle tyres annually that cause serious environmental damage. These tyres are being recycled as "zero-waste" at the facility belonging to ERA Çevre Teknolojileri, located in the Erzincan Organized Industrial Zone. After vehicles have used the tyres for thousands of kilometres, the fine wire fragments inside the end-of-life vehicle tyres are carefully separated from the tyres using magnets and returned to the economy, while pyrolytic oil and carbon are obtained from the tyre portions. Yusuf Aydın, Operations Manager at ERA Çevre Teknolojileri, a company within the Siyahkalem Group, stated: "Our facility has the capacity to recover approximately 20,000 tonnes of end-of-life tyres annually to the economy instead of burying them or sending them to landfills. Waste tyres that come to our facility are not burned under any circumstances. Without burning them, we perform material recovery using our facility's proprietary technology in an oxygen-free environment. We contribute to the economy by using the steel wire recovered from tyres in the metal industry, pyrolytic oil in electricity generation, and solid components in the production of carbon black used in paints and cosmetics. Waste tyre enters the facility, all its components are recovered, and it becomes zero-waste."

USD 8 Million Annual Contribution to the Economy

Aydın, noting that the facility contributes USD 8 million annually to the economy, said: "Carbon black is a very important material for our country, and there is no domestic production of it in Turkey. Turkey is the world's 5th largest importer in this field. Carbon black is produced by ERA at the Erzincan facility under the 'Green Carbon Black' brand, ensuring that part of the total USD 200 million import is met through domestic production. Carbon black is used in the paints sector. It provides excellent colour." Source: AA