In Finland, 60,000 tonnes of car tires are taken out of service every year. The number means about six million passenger car tires that would be enough to fill about 340 football fields. In Finnish Tire Recycling, our task is to keep nature clean for motorists and tire professionals with a functioning recycling system. At the same time, we are developing tire recycled material for the Finnish circular economy. 

Volunteering in the tire industry created a functioning system
It seems incredible that just under 30 years ago, a problem was discovered in the tire industry that could not have been imagined today. The tires were used where they are now, but as the kilometers were full, the tire sets ended up as waste in a landfill, or worse, directly in nature. Tire operators and importers were the first to wake up to the problem. In order to ensure the proper collection and recycling of their own products, tire retailers, manufacturers and importers established Suomen Rengaskierrätys Oy in 1995. The collection business began in 1996 and has continuously developed into an increasingly efficient and comprehensive one. The tire recycling rate has stabilized at almost one hundred percent, which means that practically every tire used in Finland ends up as a recycled product. 

The law guides and supports the objectives of
the recycling system Since 1997, Suomen Rengaskierrätys has operated as a producer organization provided by law, through which its members can organize the collection and recycling of their products. The recycling of tires in Finland is governed by the Environmental Act. In the same year, when the collection of tires began in 1996, the Government of Finland issued for the first time a decree on the utilization and treatment of discarded tires. Later, the law was clarified and developed. The latest version is from 2012. The tire regulation applies to: 

• tires for motor vehicles and other vehicles or equipment, the manufacturer of which is considered to be the manufacturer, importer or retreader of such a tire, or the importer of a vehicle or equipment fitted with tires;
• by law, they must arrange for the separate collection and recovery of discarded tires 
• the law requires that at least 95% by weight of the number of tires placed on the market each year be prepared for re-use, recycled or otherwise recovered;

As a producer organization, we work with our contract partner recycling operator Kuusakoski Oy to ensure that our member's statutory goals are met effortlessly and efficiently. The utilization rate in Finland has been above the target for years.

The consumer deserves affordable ease
We want to do as much as possible for the consumer. We think the system works when the consumer doesn’t even notice it. In most cases, the contact surface between the consumer and the tire recycling is only visible when purchasing a new set of tires. At that time, the customer pays a tire recycling fee, which in 2021 will be 1.74 euros per passenger car tire. The charges allow for the proper and environmentally friendly recycling of tires. Once the tires have come to an end, they are delivered free of charge to the consumer through a tire shop or the reception point of our system. We strive to develop our operations more efficiently, and we have been able to lower recycling prices for several years in a row.

Recycled products save the environment
When tires are taken out of service and transferred to our recycling system, our recycling operator Kuusakoski Oy collects them at its regional terminals and sorts the tires according to their characteristics for further use. Due to its good properties, most of the tire section is used in various applications in civil engineering. Today, more and more tires end up cleaning the water, as a protective material for playgrounds or as an elasticity-enhancing padding for riding grounds. Together with our partners, we are constantly developing better methods for utilizing tire material as a raw material for the circular economy. In this way, we can reduce the need for virgin raw materials and at the same time create jobs in Finland.