End of life tyres get a new lease of life

RecyBEM: Collecting end of life tyres for a cleaner environment

RecyBEM is the management company for the Dutch legislation on waste management for end of life tyres (Besluit beheer autobanden). In the Netherlands all used tyres from the aftermarket are collected by RecyBEM and processed in an environmentally-friendly way.

For each new tyre which producers (tyre manufacturers and importers) bring into the Dutch market, we collect one used tyre. We process the end of life tyres in an environmentally-friendly way. As a result, we prevent scrap tyres from lying around in the environment, we reduce the need for primary raw materials from nature and we reduce CO₂ emissions by doing so. RecyBEM is an initiative by the producers to fulfill the obligations set out in the Dutch legislation on waste management for end of life tyres.

On the principle of "swapping old for new", RecyBEM has collected over 85 million used tyres in the past ten years. These tyres are then given a new lease of life through re-use, recycling or incineration with energy recovery. More than 47 million tyres are given a new lease of life as raw materials following processing by RecyBEM-certified recyclers. The granulate can be found in the football club's artificial grass surface or in local playgrounds. Another 26 million of the tyres collected are given a new lease of life by being reused as tyres, second-hand tyres or retreaded.

See how RecyBEM achieves this environmental performance: