Methodology developed in Portugal was presented in Brussels: tire recycling may increase by around 8 percent.

CEMBEREAU – European Cement Association organized a debate in the European Parliament on the contribution of the cement sector to recycling targets, within the scope of the Circular Economy legislative package. On the table was coprocessing, a process in which the cement industry is able to recover energy and recycle materials from waste.

The initiative aimed to highlight the role that recycled materials can play in the context of coprocessing and how they can be incorporated into European recycling targets. To illustrate this issue, a methodology developed in Portugal by 3Drivers was presented, which specifies the quantities of each of the materials recycled through coprocessing.

To exemplify this methodology, the case of used tires was used. Although the rubber from used tires can be recycled, the market for the by-product is very limited, so the remainder is sent for co-processing in cement kilns. On the one hand, used tires have a high calorific value, and on the other, they have compounds of silica and metals, which can be recycled. The study carried out in Portugal made it possible to determine that this process had allowed a contribution to the recycling targets for used tires of around 8 percent.

Brian Gilmore, president of Ireland’s cement producers, stressed that co-processing makes a real contribution to the circular economy, ensuring the best use of resources, whether virgin or “pre-used”. “It is for this reason that we want coprocessing to be seen as an opportunity. By incorporating and accepting the recycling of materials, as there is in the cement industry, we can all cooperate together to achieve European goals, ”said the official.