Continental is making huge strides in using sustainable and recyclable raw materials.

Car tyres are round, black and made of rubber. Look closer, however, and you’ll see that the design of tyres and the interaction of the various materials that go into making them are extremely complex. But for some time now, material experts and tyre engineers at Continental have been bringing about a silent revolution. By 2050 at the latest, all tyres are to be made of sustainable materials. There is still a long way to go until then. But step by step, it is already becoming apparent which raw materials will find their way into tyre construction in the future. These include waste products from agriculture (such as the ash from rice husks), rubber from dandelions, recycled rubber or PET bottles.

Claus Petschick, Head of Sustainability at Continental Tires, is clear about Continental’s mission, saying, “Continental is on the road toward becoming the most progressive manufacturer in the tyre industry in terms of sustainability. We aim to use 100 percent sustainable materials in our tyre products by 2050 at the latest. Our innovative power enables us to break new and even more sustainable ground. This encompasses everything from the origin and sourcing of our materials through to the reuse and recycling of our tyres.”

Already today, around 15-20 percent renewable or recycled materials are used in a standard passenger car tyre from Continental. To further increase the proportion of sustainable materials and conserve valuable resources, Continental continuously analyses and reviews all raw materials used in tyre production.

Perfect material matching for maximum safety 
Depending on the application, season and environment, tyres have to fulfill specific requirements. This can be seen in, for example, the tread design. But in other areas – the composition of the rubber compound, for example – these changes are not so readily visible. Passenger car tyres from Continental consist of as many as a hundred different raw materials.

Their precise composition has a major impact on the tyres and their handling characteristics. The ability to deploy the various materials with their unique properties and interdependencies in specific ways is a complex balancing act for Continental’s engineers and material experts. Only when all the materials are ideally matched to each other can safe, energy-efficient and durable high-performance tyres be created.

Natural rubber still essential due to exceptional properties
Natural rubber is essential for ensuring outstanding tyre performance. This natural product accounts for between 10 and 40 percent of the entire weight of modern high-performance tyres. Its special properties include the high level of strength and durability, which are caused by the strain-induced crystallisation of the rubber. The tyre industry is the biggest consumer of global rubber production, accounting for more than 70 percent. However, Continental considers natural rubber a sustainable material only if it is sourced responsibly. Therefore, the company employs an integrated approach aimed at making the complex and fragmented supply chains for natural rubber more sustainable, including using cutting-edge digital technology, local involvement and close collaboration with capable partners with the goal of improving transparency and traceability along the entire value chain. Meanwhile, with its Taraxagum project, Continental is pursuing an innovative approach to ensure that it can become less dependent on natural rubber grown primarily in southeast Asia. The tyre manufacturer is working alongside partners on industrialising the extraction of natural rubber from specially cultivated dandelion plants.

Sustainable plant-based fillers 
In addition to rubber, fillers such as silica are essential to tyre assembly. Silica, for example, helps to optimise characteristics such as grip, rolling resistance and tyre life. In the future, rice husks will be used as the source material for sustainably-produced silica. Rice husks are a waste product of rice production and cannot be used as food or animal feed. Silica derived from the ash of rice husks is more energy-efficient when used in manufacturing than that obtained from conventional materials such as quartz sand.

Plant-based oils, such as rapeseed oil and resins based on residual materials from the paper and wood industries, already offer an alternative to crude-oil-based fillers in Continental's tyres. Only oils that meet technical quality standards and are not suitable for consumption are used. Oils and resins allow for flexibility in terms of tyre compounds and so improve the material’s grip.

Expanding the circular economy
Continental is aiming for fully circular operations in its tyre production by 2050 at the latest. In addition to the use of renewable materials, the company is working systematically on using recycled raw materials in tyre production. This is intended to ensure that carbon black – another crucial filler in rubber compounds – can be obtained on a large scale in the future. Continental recently signed a development agreement with Pyrum Innovations with a view to further optimising the recycling of materials from old tyres. To do this, Pyrum breaks the old tyres down into their constituent parts in an industrial furnace using a special pyrolysis process. This way, valuable raw materials contained in end-of-life tyres can be extracted and recycled. Both companies are working towards obtaining high-quality raw materials from the pyrolysis oil obtained for Continental's tyre production in the medium-term, in addition to the direct use of high-quality carbon black. In the long-term, the tyre manufacturer and Pyrum are aiming to establish a closed loop circular economy concept for the recycling of old tyres.

Recycled rubber from end-of-life tyres
In addition to pyrolysis, Continental is also making use of mechanical processing of end-of-life tyres. Rubber, steel and textile cord in particular are separated from one another in a highly sophisticated process. The rubber is then prepared for re-use as part of new rubber compounds.

Continental has a long history of working consistently to introduce end-of-life tyres into the circular economy to conserve resources and the environment. A material known as Conti-Reclaim has been obtained as part of the truck tyre retreading process at the company’s plant in Stöcken in Hanover since 2013. It has been used in tyre production at Continental for years. To expand the range of applications for the recycled rubber and optimise the properties for the various fields of application, Continental uses not only Conti-Reclaim but also recycled rubber from other suppliers.

Recycled plastic bottles in tyre casing 
“Recycled raw materials are going to play a big role in making tyres more sustainable. We use recycled materials whenever possible. Comparable quality and material properties to conventional raw materials are crucial for us,” says Petschick.

For example, Continental is working with partners to obtain high-quality polyester yarn for its tyres from recycled PET bottles. PET bottles often end up in incinerators or landfills otherwise. With its ContiRe.Tex technology, the tyre manufacturer has developed a more energy-efficient and eco-friendly alternative that allows it to reuse between nine and fifteen plastic bottles for each tyre, depending on the tyre size. The recycled PET has already replaced conventional polyester in the structures of some tyre casing. The PET bottles used are sourced exclusively from regions where there is no closed recycling loop.

Systematically moving toward greater sustainability
Continental is working to advance innovative technologies and sustainable products and services throughout its entire value chain, from sourcing sustainable materials to recycling end-of-life tyres. The company is aiming to achieve 100 percent carbon neutrality by 2050 at the latest.

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The Government of Kerala has approved the twelfth phase of the Rubber Production Incentive Scheme, extending support to natural rubber growers through a guaranteed price mechanism.

The scheme is designed to ensure a price of INR 250 per kilogram for RSS 4 grade sheet rubber. Growers who are not yet enrolled may register for the programme until 23 October 2026, according to an official statement issued on 6 August in Kottayam.

Applicants seeking new registration must submit an Aadhaar card, bank passbook copy, current year land tax receipt and a photograph to their respective Rubber Producers’ Societies. Existing participants are required to renew their registration by providing land tax receipts for the 2026–27 period.

The release added that sale invoices or purchase bills submitted under the scheme must originate from licensed dealers who comply with statutory return requirements. Further details are available through the nearest Rubber Board office.

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The Rubber Board of India has launched a series of educational videos as part of the iSPEED (INROAD Skilling and Production Efficiency Enhancement Drive) programme, an INR 1.50-billion initiative aimed at enhancing skill development, quality improvement and infrastructure building within the natural rubber sector. This launch comes as the plantation activities under the larger Project INROAD (Indian Natural Rubber Operations for Assisted Development) in Northeast India approach completion, shifting focus towards productivity and quality enhancement through modern training and facilities.

The newly released video series targets nearly 300,000 rubber growers in the region, covering five essential processing areas: Rubber Tapping, Rain Guarding, Grading, Rubber Sheet Making and Scientific Smokehouses. To ensure broad accessibility, the modules have been produced in Assamese, Bengali, Hindi and Malayalam, enabling effective communication with diverse stakeholders across the natural rubber ecosystem.

The official release of the videos was conducted by Executive Director M Vasanthagesan, alongside Rubber Production Commissioner Dr Siju T Nair, other senior Board officials and representatives from the Indian tyre industry. Developed over the past year with technical assistance from the Rubber Board and the Rubber Research Institute of India, the educational content combines animation with real-life field demonstrations to simplify complex scientific practices for easy adoption.

Project INROAD represents a unique collaboration between the Indian tyre industry and the Rubber Board, with support from Apollo Tyres, CEAT, JK Tyre and MRF. Over the last five years, this partnership has facilitated new rubber plantations across approximately 180,000 hectares in 113 districts of Northeast India, establishing it as the country’s largest plantation development programme of its kind.

Mohan Kurian, Chairman, INROAD Project, said, "Skill development and adoption of scientific practices are essential for improving both productivity and quality in the natural rubber sector. These multilingual videos will serve as an effective training resource for growers and complement the Rubber Board's ongoing extension efforts across the country.”

Sanjiv Saxena, Convener, ATMA Supply Chain & Resources (SCR) Group, said, "The objective of the participating member companies under INROAD is to ensure that rubber growers benefit the most from a stronger natural rubber value chain. By improving productivity and quality, we aim to help farmers realise better returns while strengthening the sustainability of the entire ecosystem."

Muraligopal, who played a key role in coordinating the development of the videos, said, "These videos are the result of close collaboration with the Rubber Board, RRII and field teams across the Northeast. Their guidance and support helped us develop practical, farmer-friendly training modules based on scientific best practices."

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Zeon Corporation has finalised the construction of a new bench-scale facility at its Tokuyama Plant in Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, dedicated to advancing the efficient production of butadiene from sustainable ethanol sources. The project, which broke ground in July 2025, represents a strategic move to establish a naphtha-independent raw material supply chain, thereby bolstering both corporate sustainability and the broader transition towards a carbon-neutral society. The facility is slated to commence full-scale operations in January 2027, with the ultimate goal of achieving commercial viability by 2034.

A commemorative ceremony took place at the plant site on 31 July 2026, drawing a total of 46 attendees. The gathering included official representatives from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and local governmental bodies from Yamaguchi Prefecture and Shunan City. Also present were delegates from the Yokohama Rubber Company, the construction contractor and various affiliated firms, alongside Zeon’s leadership, including Akira Honma, the Corporate Officer and Tokuyama Plant Manager.

This initiative forms one half of a dual-themed research and development programme undertaken in partnership with Yokohama Rubber, under the auspices of NEDO’s Green Innovation Fund. The collaborative effort is focused on the social implementation of technologies for synthesising both butadiene and isoprene from renewable biological materials by the 2030s. As part of this process, Zeon is set to produce a prototype polybutadiene rubber using the output from the new bench-scale facility, while Yokohama Rubber will subsequently manufacture test tyres from this material and conduct performance evaluations on test tracks.

Both companies have outlined a clear roadmap, intending to finalise the core technology for societal deployment by 2030 through the operation of a larger pilot plant, with full-scale commercialisation targeted for 2034. The bench-scale facility is a critical precursor in this phased approach, providing essential data for the scale-up process.

The broader project encompasses two selected NEDO themes, both subsidised through the Green Innovation Fund. The first involves the highly efficient synthesis of butadiene from ethanol, with technical cooperation from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. The second focuses on biotechnological pathways to directly produce butadiene and isoprene from plant-based materials, involving partnerships with the Institute of Science Tokyo and RIKEN. Both tracks aim to supplement synthetic rubber feedstocks and support closed-loop recycling, aligning with Japan’s 2050 net-zero emissions goal by fostering long-term industrial innovation.

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The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) has released its Monthly Natural Rubber Statistical Report for June 2026, a month defined by price resilience amid conflicting market forces. The provisional reopening of the Strait of Hormuz triggered a sharp 20.29 percent drop in Brent crude oil prices to USD 85.40 per barrel. However, this bearish signal was counterbalanced by persistent supply constraints from El Niño-related weather disruptions across major producing regions.

Physical rubber prices posted broad-based gains across most grades. SMR-20 rose 1.39 percent to USD 2.32 per kilogramme, while STR-20 gained 2.61 percent to USD 2.55 per kilogramme. RSS-3 and RSS-4 advanced 4.98 percent and 5.88 percent to USD 3.09 and USD 2.84 per kilogramme, respectively, though latex eased 1.44 percent to USD 1.94 per kilogramme. On the trade front, China's imports surged 7.14 percent month-on-month, while India and Viet Nam declined. Export growth was recorded for Cambodia, Viet Nam and Indonesia, though Thai shipments contracted.

Global production for 2026 is projected at 15.310 million tonnes, up 2.3 percent from 2025, driven by gains in Thailand, China, India and Malaysia. However, June output fell 3.7 percent year-on-year to 1.207 million tonnes due to seasonal wintering and El Niño-related weather disruptions. Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia have introduced new incentive and governance measures to strengthen their sectors. Global consumption is forecast to grow 0.7 percent to 15.411 million tonnes in 2026, with June consumption rising 3.3 percent to 1.300 million tonnes, led by China and India amid steady tyre and EV-related demand.

Currency markets saw the Malaysian ringgit trade between RM3.96 and RM4.08 against the US dollar, while the Thai baht ranged from 32.56 to 33.24. In futures trading, the SHFE September 2026 contract averaged 17,580.68 CNY per tonne, down 0.45 percent month-on-month, while the SGX September contract averaged USD 2.24 per kilogramme, up 1.75 percent, with both reflecting tightening supply and firm downstream demand.

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