https://www.basf.com/global/en/media/news-releases/2026/07/p-26-137

Pirelli, Pyrum, BASF and Synthos have launched a European “tyre-to-tyre” recycling project, coordinated by Pirelli, to return materials from end-of-life and scrap tyres to new tyre production. Feedstock comes from tyres collected in Germany, including Pirelli’s Driver retail network, motorsport activities and its Breuberg plant.

Pyrum processes the tyres by oxygen-free thermal decomposition (pyrolysis), producing recovered carbon black (rCB) and tyre pyrolysis oil (TPO). After upgrading, the rCB is directly reused in Pirelli’s European tyre production, partially replacing virgin carbon black.

The TPO is supplied to BASF and co-fed with fossil feedstocks into chemical production, including butadiene and styrene. Using a mass-balance approach, the recycled feedstock is attributed to BASF’s ISCC PLUS-certified Ccycled® products. Synthos then uses these materials to produce ISCC PLUS-certified synthetic rubber for high-performance tyres, which is returned to Pirelli’s production.

The project thus establishes two circular routes from waste tyres back into new tyres: recovered carbon black and synthetic rubber derived partly from tyre pyrolysis oil.