Status of waste tires’ recycling for material and energy resources in Taiwan

Abstract

Motor vehicles are indicative of transportation facilities in every country. In this regard, tires are important commodities of domestic and international trade due to their major material compositions (i.e., rubber, carbon black and steel coil). However, improper treatment of waste tires, once they have been removed from discarded (end-of-life) vehicles without the possibility of being retreaded, will lead to the problems of environmental health and fire hazard. The waste tires’ recycling in Taiwan started in the late 1980s’ demonstrating that the regulatory and subsidiary policies had significant impacts on its success. The objective of this paper was to update the status of waste tires’ recycling in Taiwan. Furthermore, this paper also presented a successful case regarding the waste tires’ pyrolysis plant in Taiwan, which may be the first commercial operation system through continuous process. Under the 16-year promotion of waste tires’ recycling, the tire-derived materials from the certified recycling volume of waste tires (100,000–120,000 metric tons) have been almost utilized to rubber recycling and energy recovery. Finally, some prospects were addressed to increase the economic value and resource recycling rate of waste tires through green procurement and innovative technologies in Taiwan.