Bridgestone held a groundbreaking ceremony on October 21 for its new pilot demonstration plant for precise pyrolysis*1 of end-of-life tyres at its plant in Seki City, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. The ceremony brought together 32 participants, such as Seki City Mayor Kiyoshi Yamashita and representatives from the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, as well as other stakeholders, who gathered to pray for the safety of the construction of the new plant.
Bridgestone, through its EVERTIRE INITIATIVE*2, is actively promoting the recycling business in collaboration with various partners, recognizing end-of-life tyres as valuable “resources” and “renew” them into rubber and other raw materials. The company is targeting the early implementation of tyre-to-tyre horizontal recycling, and this new pilot plant will play an integral role in this initiative.
At the pilot demonstration plant for precise pyrolysis of end-of-life tyres, Bridgestone will conduct technology demonstrations to establish chemical recycling technologies that recover tyre-derived oil and recovered carbon black from end-of-life tyres through precise pyrolysis, enabling their reuse as raw materials for tyres. The plant is scheduled for completion in 2027.
