The materials Bridgestone currently uses in its products can be classified into three categories: renewable materials, non-renewable materials, and recycled materials. In addition to reducing raw material consumption, Bridgestone is promoting the reuse of resources and the use of recycled and renewable raw materials toward the goal of using “100% sustainable materials” as its long-term environmental vision for 2050 and beyond.
Bridgestone is developing a global retread service in which it collects worn out tires from customers, replaces the worn tread, and delivers tires that are again ready for use. Retreading tires can contribute to improved resource productivity and reduced CO2 emissions. Assuming that a customer uses our tires three times, comparing the use of three new tires with the use of one new fuel-efficient tire that is retreaded twice, retreading can halve the amount of raw materials used and CO2 emissions generated during the entire life cycle, excluding the “use” phase. By providing solutions that combine multiple retreads based on its unique technology, Dan-Totsu Products, and appropriate maintenance, Bridgestone maximizes the asset value of tires, and provides social and customer value of safety, cost efficiency, productivity, and environmental sustainability.
Retread tires reuse the resource of tire casings by replacing the worn tread rubber (areas that come into contact with the road surface). Retread tires use less than one-third the amount of raw materials used in new tires and enable the reuse of other tire components (casings). The retreading solution contributes significantly to the reduction of discarded tires as well as the reduction of waste in communities.
* Calculated for the case of TBR General tires (275/80R22.5) based on “Tyre LCCO2 Calculation Guidelines Ver. 3.0.1” (The Japan Automobile Tyre Manufacturers Association, Inc., December 2021)
Bridgestone has been developing retreads for aircraft tires since 1955. Today, it provides customers worldwide with products and services that excel in environmental performance, safety, and economy from its five retreading plants around the globe.
While meeting the stringent performance requirements of aircraft manufacturers, Bridgestone designs aircraft tires so that they can be retreaded after use. The tires are returned when standard wear and tear are observed due to repeated takeoffs and landings and are retreaded at Bridgestone retreading plants. The tread of main wheel bias tires of an aircraft typically wears out after about 200 takeoffs and landings, while the tread of main wheel radial tires typically wears out after about 350 takeoffs and landings*1. In general, bias tires may be retreaded up to 6 times and radial tires up to 3 times, which means each tire can potentially make a total of about 1,400 takeoffs and landings during its product life*2.
Bridgestone inspects returned tires based on a number of requirements across the retreading process to deliver to customers only retreaded tires that have successfully passed non-destructive testing at the final inspection. These retreaded tires provide the same product performance and meet the same safety standards as new tires.
Mining is one of the toughest jobs for a tire. A super-sized dump truck is 260 tons of vehicle carrying 370 tons of ore. With six tires to support up to 600 tons, that means a single tire could be carrying as much as 100 tons. The largest off-the-road tire used for mining is 4 meters in diameter and weighs up to 5 tons. Tires are disposed of when they are no longer usable because the treads are worn-out during mining operations. In addition, if a tire fails due to driving over sharp rocks or obstacles, it is disposed of at that time because it is no longer usable, even if it still has enough tread rubber, which is a significant waste of resources.
Bridgestone Off-the-Road-Tire Repair contributes to reducing tire consumption and saving natural resources by extending the life of damaged tires. Since 1999, Bridgestone Mining Solutions Australia (BMSA) has provided off-the-road tire repairs to customers across Australia. Repair System delivers the highest level of safety, quality, durability, and viability in every repair.
BMSA operates six repair facilities nationally. These facilities have a combined annual capacity to undertake approximately 5,000 repairs per year. In addition, BMSA branches have the capability to arrange tire repairs for customers who are located in remote areas by providing onsite inspection, quotes and assistance with logistics services.
Carrying cargo or passengers, trucks and buses are the lifeblood of the world’s economy. Bridgestone is continually developing new innovative technology for truck and bus tires. With a full line-up of tires tailored to nearly every commercial-use application, it provides high levels of safety, reliability, and cost-effectiveness for highway, city, on and off-road, and winter driving conditions. The M800 series of truck and bus tires are designed to maintain high durability in casing and can be retreaded twice*1.
In 2022, Bridgestone launched the EVERTIRE INITIATIVE, a program to create a future in which tires are recycled to create new tires – not as waste tires or end-of-life tires – but as tires that are returned to rubber and other raw materials and recycled as EVER (always, forever, and everlasting) tires. Starting with the following activities, Bridgestone will accelerate co-creation under EVERTIRE INITIATIVE, an activity working toward a sustainable future where recycled tires are the standard.
Bridgestone and ENEOS Corporation launched a joint research and development project aimed at the successful development of “chemical recycling technologies that enable precise pyrolysis of used tires.”* Synthetic rubber is one of the primary materials used when producing tires and, today, is generally produced from petroleum. Used tires are mainly utilized as fuel in Japan, but to reduce CO2 emissions generated in this method, it is becoming increasingly important to circulate tires in a process that emits less CO2, rather than burning them.
In this joint project, the companies will engage in demonstration projects that achieve the high-yield production of chemical products, such as butadiene, a raw material used in synthetic rubber. The large-scale demonstrations will be advanced toward 2030 with the goal of achieving mass production and swift commercialization.
The companies will maximize the advanced rubber and polymer material design technologies Bridgestone has cultivated through its tire and rubber business with the crude oil refining technologies and basic chemical product manufacturing technologies of ENEOS. Together, Bridgestone and ENEOS, as leaders in the tire and rubber industry and in the petroleum and petrochemicals industry, respectively, are working to increase resource circulation and reduce CO2 emissions across the value chains of their industries.
* Chemical recycling entails treating used materials with chemicals to convert them into other chemical substances to be recycled, as opposed to reusing them as is.
Bridgestone plans to construct a pilot demonstration plant for precise pyrolysis of end-of-life tires at its plant in Seki City, Gifu Prefecture, in Japan. The plant will start operating in 2027 with an aim to realize the horizontal recycling of tires. The facility will demonstrate the technology needed for establishing and optimizing precise pyrolysis of end-of-life tires, which involves obtaining tire-derived oil and recovered carbon black from the tires. In demonstrating this technology, Bridgestone aims to help accelerate the social implementation of chemical recycling technology.
This pilot demonstration plant implements the foundational technology for precise pyrolysis obtained from the demonstration machine introduced at Bridgestone Innovation Park (BIP) in Kodaira, Tokyo, in 2023. It aims to acquire knowledge on process design and quality control necessary for stable continuous operation and to establish scale-up technology for mass production of pyrolysis oil and recovered carbon black. Additionally, alongside technological development efforts, the plant will promote the construction of operational know-how and the development of human resources to support the realization of chemical recycling.
To highlight a related development, Bridgestone is collaborating on a project with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and Tohoku University, with partners ENEOS and JGC HOLDINGS CORPORATION, to co-create chemical recycling technologies for the high-yield production of isoprene, a raw material used in the production of synthetic rubber, by decomposing used tires at low temperature*1. By combining the expertise and technologies of industry-leading companies and academic institutions, Bridgestone is working to develop innovative recycling technologies that will contribute to the realization of a more sustainable society and to conduct demonstrations for the social implementation of these technologies by 2035.
These two projects, chemical recycling technologies that enable precise pyrolysis of used tires and chemical recycling technologies for high-yield production of isoprene by decomposing used tires at low temperature, have been adopted by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan as part of its Green Innovation Fund Project*2: Development of Technology for Producing Raw Materials for Plastics Using CO2 and Other Sources, with a project scale of 33.74 billion JPY and 23.03 billion JPY in funding. This funding will support their ongoing research, demonstration testing, joint research, etc.
Tokai Carbon Co., Ltd., Bridgestone , Kyushu University, and Okayama University have launched a technology development project to perform secondary processing of recovered carbon black (rCB) extracted from polymer products, such as end-of-life tires containing rubber. The project aims to convert these materials into eco Carbon Black (eCB™*1) with rubber reinforcement properties equivalent to those of virgin carbon black (vCB)*2 that is derived from petroleum and coal.
Efforts are already underway to pyrolyze polymer products, including rubber from end-of-life tires, to recover and reuse rCB. However, the practical application of rCB in new tires still faces challenges. Among them, rCB has lower rubber reinforcement performance compared to vCB, primarily due to the presence of numerous impurities. Additionally, although many end-of-life tires are effectively utilized as fuel through thermal recovery, this process leads to CO2 emissions. With the anticipated growth in automotive and transportation demand, tire demand is expected to rise correspondingly in the future. These efforts are focused on enhancing resource circulation by further enabling the recycling of vCB, a key raw material for tires.
In 2024, Bridgestone EMEA, Grupo BB&G, and Versalis (Eni) signed an agreement aimed at establishing a closed-loop ecosystem to transform end-of-life tires into new tires.
As part of the collaboration, all three companies are working together to research and realize the best technical solutions to establish a successful ecosystem for the future recycling of end-of-life tires on a large scale.
With its co-creation partner LanzaTech NZ, Inc., a carbon capture and transformation company, Bridgestone seeks to develop a new business model that will create a post-consumer waste management strategy for end-of-life tires, while also driving increased adoption of sustainably sourced chemicals for commercial applications.
Applying LanzaTech’s carbon capture and gas fermentation process to end-of-life tires yields sustainably produced chemicals such as ethanol that can be converted to materials like PET for packaging, polyester yarn, and surfactants used in consumer goods like laundry detergent. In addition, Bridgestone and LanzaTech are jointly exploring proprietary microbe technology to identify more efficient pathways to produce butadiene, a key ingredient in new tire production.
Together with LanzaTech, Bridgestone aims to lead the way toward tire material circularity and the decarbonization of new tire production, contributing to the realization of a sustainable society.
Michelin and Bridgestone delivered a joint position paper on advancing sustainability in the tire industry at the Smithers Recovered Carbon Black Conference in 2022. The paper focused on increasing utilization of recovered carbon black (rCB) in tires and the environmental benefits of this more sustainable material. Bridgestone and Michelin issued a call to action to establish a coalition of a diverse group of stakeholders, including tire manufacturers, carbon black suppliers, pyrolysis partners, and emerging technology startups to accelerate progress and increase the supply of rCB. In November 2023, Bridgestone and Michelin Group published a joint technical white paper to share the results of their work with stakeholders in the rCB community and to develop a proposed global standard to increase the utilization of rCB material in tires.
AirFree is Bridgestone’s next-generation tire, which has a unique structure of spokes inside to support the weight of the vehicle. AirFree is one of the great examples of Bridgestone’s commitment to non-stop safe mobility with peace of mind. The color of the spoke, called “Empowering Blue,” was chosen to maximize visibility at twilight, and the tire's unique structure requires no inflation, resulting in less tire maintenance. The spoke structure is made of resin*1 and, along with the rubber in the tread portion, the materials used in the tires are recyclable, contributing to the efficient use of resources.
Bridgestone has started demonstration experiments on public roads in Kodaira City, Tokyo where Bridgestone Innovation Park is located. It hopes to develop AirFree characteristics and performance in various usage conditions and evolve toward social implementation.
Recycling aluminum scrap is another major initiative to reuse solid waste. In collaboration with an aluminum alloys manufacturer, Tire Mold Thailand (TMOT) has begun recycling 100 percent of aluminum scrap and reusing recycled aluminum ingots in the mold manufacturing process for tires.
Bridgestone has initiated a collaboration to closed-loop recycling*1 the plastic pipes used for water supply and hot water supply in Sekisui House's residential buildings, specifically the offcuts generated during new construction. Both companies are exploring the recycling of these plastic pipes in pursuit of a shared vision of achieving a sustainable society.
In this collaboration, leveraging the strengths of both companies, Sekisui House will collect Bridgestone's polybutene pipes, which will then be recycled into pellets by a recycling material manufacturer and returned to Bridgestone for use in the production of water supply and hot water supply plastic pipes. As a result, over 70%*2 of the Bridgestone-produced plastic pipe offcuts generated during Sekisui House's new construction will be closed-loop recycled. Including offcuts recycled for other purposes, nearly 100%*2 of the material will be recycled.
Sustainability
