Rubber Recycling

The extensive utilization of rubber in various applications, e.g. in the transport area, causes a problem in terms of rubber waste handling. Finding an environmentally-sound solution for this problem is a challenge for the rubber industry nowadays. The increasingly strict legislation urges the rubber producers and the consumers to consider the possibility of recycling. The EU obliges the automotive industry to recycle at least 95% of the car materials before 2015, and this implies that the rubber industry cannot escape from recycling of the rubber parts anymore. Devulcanization of rubber breaks the polysulphidic crosslinks so that the polymer molecules can be vulcanized again for other rubber applications.