Green Assist: Boosting circular sustainability on tyre recycling

Cuibhil – a project led by Antin Infrastructure Partners and Scandinavian Enviro Systems – has the mission to use an innovative pyrolysis process to recycle end-of-life tyres (ELT) in an environmentally responsible way. The overarching goal is to develop an innovative circular solution for tyre recycling at industrial scale. This will sharply reduce the recourse to incineration, which is the current mainstream route for disposing of ELT for energy recovery.

The core of the technology lies in thermolysis, a process that involves heating rubber in a controlled oxygen-free environment to create valuable end products – recovered carbon black and pyrolysis oil. These products are used by tyre manufacturers, among others, creating a fully circular solution that reduces waste and environmental pollution compared to the current process for producing virgin carbon black. This project envisions the establishment of recycling centres in all major European markets, ultimately achieving a processing capacity of 1 million tonnes of ELT per year.

To make their ambitious project a reality, Cuibhil has sought help from Green Assist to help improve its carbon footprint assessment and waste management practices and to reduce its imprint on the environment. As a result, between July and December 2023, the company is receiving free tailored advisory support for its project.

Hand-picked experts from Green Assist are helping the project refine its approach to life cycle assessment and measurement of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, improving its environmental credentials. In addition, they also provide guidance for optimising the European industrial rollout of these innovative plants.

Omar Meziane, partner at AIP and Cuibhil Board Member, said:

‘For us, the main benefit of Green Assist was the ability to leverage their wide range of expertise on the GHG Protocol, which spanned from the technical to the juridical and also extended into other areas, such as economic impact analysis and procedural minutiae. Green Assist’s breadth of expert knowledge was crucial in enabling us to thoroughly evaluate and improve our project, thereby enabling us to maximise its positive environmental impact through in-depth analysis and supporting documentation. Another key differentiating factor was our access to Green Assist’s European market experts, who provided a full view of the various regulatory conditions to be faced during the permitting phase as we prepare for a Europe-wide roll-out of our project.’

Omar Meziane further added:

‘We would definitely recommend Green Assist to other companies because of their expertise on both the technical and regulatory levels. They have effective teams that are easy to work with, which in turn leads to having a better and stronger initiative.’

The technology’s versatility extends beyond tyre recycling, promising a potential solution for other waste types as well.

The next steps for the project involve launching the first industry-scale plant in Sweden and fulfilling the remaining technical deliverables. This will be followed by preparing the global roll-out across Europe and developing reporting and satisfaction surveys to help propel this project on the ground towards completion.