Spain uses old tyres to build roads

Spain has come up with a novel initiative to encourage the recycling of waste tyres by simply reusing them to build new roads. According to a report in newspaper El Pais, the government will soon pass a law that could increase the proportion of end-of-life tyres recycled into roads by as much as 50%. The paper also claims that Spain’s ultimate aim is to recycle as much as 98% of waste tyres.

The new regulation will initially apply to only 30% of government administrated roads, but the initiators hope it will eventually extend to cover the whole road network. The European Union banned the landfilling of tyres last year, but currently only around 2% of waste is being recycled to build roads. The European tyre producing association ETRMA has praised Spain’s initiative, claiming it will become a trendsetter in Europe. It also said rubber-modified surfaces improve road use by reducing noise.