In 2021, over 200 thousand tonnes of End-of-Life Tyres were collected by Ecopneus

During 2021, Ecopneus worked hard to mitigate the criticalities that hit the collection system on the territory by collecting 120% of its legal target. By doing this, Ecopneus quickly complied with the note of the General Management for the Circular Economy of the Ministry of the Ecological Transition.

Over 65,000 collection missions were carried out at over 26,500 tyre dealers all over the Italian territory. This is a unique effort in Italy that offers concrete benefits to society and the environment.

The system of collection and recycling of ELTs (End-of-Life Tyres) managed by Ecopneus closed 2021 with over 200,000 tonnes of ELTs collected all over the national territory. This fully complied with the extra-ordinary collection objectives set by the Ministry of the Ecological Transition to face the criticalities that hit the national collection system. Compared with the collection objectives provided for by the law, the Ecopneus collection reached 120%: it is an important result reached thanks to the effort made by Ecopneus. In 2021, it effectively contributed to facing the emergency situation by increasing its quota of extraordinary tyre collection by 20%”. By doing so, Ecopneus immediately applied the indications set in the ministerial note that raised to 15% and then to 20% the amounts of ELTs the authorised bodies had to collect in 2021.

Overall, in 2021, Ecopneus completed over 65,000 ELT collection requests at over 26,500 tyre dealers, service stations and car repair shops in all Italian Provinces.

Federico Dossena, General Manager of Ecopneus, declared: “2021 was a complex year for the whole system. 2022 started suffering from the consequences of the health crisis we are still, unfortunately, living. Nevertheless, last year we were able to fully reach the objectives set by the law, assuring a thorough collection all over the Italian territory – Ecopneus activated all the resources at its disposal, immediately putting into practice the ministerial regulation that acted on a structural problem mainly linked to the irregular flows of tyres. Indeed, tyres enter our country without any fiscal documentation every year. As such, they alter the calculations of the collection objectives of the bodies authorised to carry out these activities, thus causing important financial losses for the treasury and the ELT recovery system. As Ecopneus, we are proud of contributing to and supporting a sector of excellence for the development of Italy’s circular economy, as it can be seen from the growing use of rubber recycled from ELTs in many sectors: from the building sector to industry, sports and infrastructure”

Ecopneus has worked hard in Italy. Indeed, in the course of the years, it has concretely benefited both society and the environment, promoting an ever greater use of recycled rubber in many applications that are useful in our daily lives. The rubber obtained from ELTs recycling is, indeed, a precious material that is widely used all over the world for the creation of sport surfaces, football pitches, silent, safe and long-lasting asphalts and acoustic insulation. It is also used for energy recovery. As of today, the market of recycled rubber is constantly growing. Ecopneus is actively working on finding new applications through constant R&D activities, such as: chemical recycling and the applications at industrial level.

Since 2011, Ecopneus has managed over 2.2 million tonnes of ELTs – 130,000 tonnes more that its legal target (+6% as a yearly average). It has also carried out over 700,000 collection missions at over 26,500 tyre dealers all over the Italian territory. Thanks to the activities of recovery and recycling of Ecopneus, the emission of over 3.36 million tonnes of CO2 eq. has been avoided in 10 years. To this, one must add a saving for Italy linked to the imports of virgin raw materials that amounts to over 1.15 billion euros.

Ecopneus PFU collection Region by Region

Ecopneus PFU collection Region by Region