R&D servicing the industrialization of a waste valorization sector -Aliapur's R&D department case

The used tire industry is a young one, born in 2004 from the application of the principle of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). This principle institutes the financial and/or operational assumption of all or part of the management of end-of-life products by the economic players responsible for placing them on the market. The players concerned then have the choice of assuming their responsibilities individually or collectively within the framework of an eco-organization.

France is one of the countries that currently makes most use of this management principle, with some twenty sectors currently covered, or in the process of being covered, by an EPR (packaging, graphic paper, electrical and electronic equipment, furniture, etc.).

Aliapur, the main collective body in charge of implementing the obligations incumbent on tire producers, collects and recycles over 75% of the current used tire stockpile, i.e. around 300,000 tonnes a year. Its founding shareholders include the major tire manufacturers: Bridgestone, Continental, Dunlop Goodyear, Kleber, Michelin and Pirelli.

Since its creation, Aliapur's aim has been to encourage the emergence of a structured industrial economy that creates environmental, economic and social value from the many potentialities offered by non-reusable used tires (ELT): calorific value, carbon content, elasticity...

For the industry, this means gradually moving away from a management approach based on "waste" towards the creation of added value through the development and delivery of standardized products to end-users.

The organization's research and development function plays a central role in achieving the objectives defined by the sector:

• ensuring the absence of health or environmental risks through an assessment approach based on laboratory experiments and real-life conditions of use;

• by creating methods and tools to optimize and harmonize operations prior to recovery, such as shredding and granulation, in order to offer homogeneous products of consistent quality throughout the country;

• by exploring the various properties of ELT products and proposing characterization methods and reference values to enable potential users to assess their actual technical qualities;

• by analyzing users' needs, in particular constraints on use in their own industrial equipment, in order to remove any obstacles to the use of products based on used tires;

• identifying and helping to create new outlets, with a view to diversifying and optimizing product potential.

This...