Retreading tyres

摘要

For a retread to exist, someone bought a new tyre and provided the case. The environmental conundrum is obvious: who is the greener? Retread production technology has got to the point where manufacturers can take more control and meet more demanding tolerances. So they will argue that, as a result, retreads offer the greenest route. Look no further than the ContiLifeCycle plant in Hannover-Stocken (TE Jan 14, page 31), where 180,000 retreads will be manufactured annually, after 4,000 tonnes of rubber has been recycled. That's a notoriously difficult task, post-vulcanisation, but the technology marches ahead.