Continental Tyres unveils its most sustainable tyre ever
The new tyre range is made from up to 65% sustainable materials including agricultural waste, plastic bottles and recycled steel.Continental Tyres has launched the UltraContact NXT, its most sustainable tyre series yet. The ground-breaking UltraContact NXT series incorporates a blend of renewable, recycled, and mass-certified materials.
Renewable materials account for 32% of its composition which includes bio-based silica derived from agricultural waste. Recycled rubber and steel are also utilised, effectively reducing waste and conserving valuable resources.
Although it is made from recycled and plant-based materials, Continental promises that the tyres will offer exceptional grip, rolling resistance and mileage.
Continental’s ContiRe.Tex technology is employed in the UltraContact NXT, recycling PET bottles to produce high-performance polyester fibres that reinforce the tyre carcass. This means that for every tyre, several plastic bottles are given a new purpose, preventing them from ending up in landfills or incinerators.
Continental first announced that they would start using reprocessed polyester obtained from recycled plastic bottles in tyre production back in 2021 with the materials filtering through to on-sale products by 2022.
By 2030, Continental has a goal to use over 40 per cent renewable and recycled materials for all of its tyres with its main goal of 100 per cent use of sustainable materials in its entire tyre range by 2050.
The UltraContact NXT is designed with EV owners in mind and is compatible with popular models such as the Kia Niro, Mercedes-Benz EQA, and Tesla Model 3. It will also be available for traditional internal combustion engined cars such as the Volkswagen Golf.
The UltraContact NXT series is currently not yet available for purchase in Australia.
Continental isn’t the only tyre manufacturer to invest in sustainable and recycled materials in their new generation of tyres. The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company unveiled a demonstration tyre at the start of 2023 that is made up of 90% sustainable materials including soybean oil. After demonstrating the capabilities of a 70% sustainable material tyre in January 2022, Goodyear has confirmed that it plans to start selling the 70% sustainable material tyres in 2023.
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