Every year, around 1.75 billion tyres from cars and trucks reach the end of their useful life, around 9,900 every three minutes. Because tyres are made from a complex mix of rubber, plastics, and metal, they are difficult to recycle. Many are still incinerated or end up in landfill, meaning valuable raw materials are lost. New chemical recycling technologies can recover these materials and transform them into new products, including textiles for outdoor clothing.
Turning tyre waste into high-performance fabrics
BASF and outdoor apparel company VAUDE are collaborating to transform chemically recycled tyre waste into polyamide for functional clothing and equipment.
The process starts with pyrolysis, a chemical recycling technology that converts used tyres into pyrolysis oil. BASF uses this oil as an alternative to part of the fossil-based raw materials needed to produce polyamide, a high-performance fibre widely used in textiles.
The recycled feedstock is integrated into BASF’s production system using a certified mass balance approach. This allows recycled raw materials to be incorporated into existing manufacturing processes while producing polyamide with the same quality and performance as conventionally produced material.
The resulting fibres are used to manufacture a growing range of outdoor products, including trousers, jackets, backpacks, and women’s clothing, while meeting the high performance requirements expected for outdoor activities.
Beyond the collaboration with VAUDE, BASF’s recycled materials are also being used by other companies across a range of applications. These include outdoor apparel, footwear, technical products such as climbing ropes, and more! This demonstrates the versatility of the material and its ability to meet the performance requirements of a wide range of textile applications.
