_198 2023 UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT_MICHELIN 4 NON-FINANCIAL STATEMENT Sustainable Development Report In all, with one retreading and two regroovings, a MICHELIN Truck tire can last 2.5 times longer than a new MICHELIN tire, with only around 30% additional material. This offers three benefits compared with a non-retreadable, nonregroovable tire, whether premium or budget: ● a financial benefit from the lower cost per kilometer; ● environmental benefits, by considerably reducing raw materials use; ● social benefits, by creating more jobs. Everywhere that retreading/regrooving is practiced, the logistics operations and related services (collection, inspection, maintenance, retailing, etc.) help to stimulate the local economy. Recycle The deployment of technically and economically viable ecosystems to recycle and treat end-of-life tires is a major challenge that Michelin is determined to address, in every country, in cooperation with all of the stakeholders concerned. Indeed, for many years, the Group has been encouraging the introduction of effective solutions and continues to play a leading role. A 2019 TIP study showed that between 57% and 88% of all endof-life tires, regardless of brand, sold in the 45 countries under review were collected. The study also found that 42% of end-oflife tires were reused to make new materials and 15% were burned as fuel to recover heat and power(1). In 2023, Michelin deepened its engagement with the creation of a new operating unit, in charge of supporting the circular economy with renewable and recycled materials. It is tasked with orchestrating the transition to circularity with other Group units across the organization, as well as with outside ecosystems through partnerships forged in every value chain. In this way, it will help to develop new recycling channels, in particular for endof-life tires, and to secure the supply of primary inputs and new renewable and recycled materials, while minimizing carbon emissions, water, biodiversity and other environmental impacts, and the amount of energy used in tire production. The unit will enable the Group to accelerate the take-up of endof-life tire recovery and reuse technologies that it has been developing: Lehigh Technologies, a US company acquired in 2017, which designs and manufactures micronized rubber powders derived from recycled end-of-life tires and other rubber-based industrial products. In 2022, the Group began building a Lehigh Technologies workshop at its Olsztyn plant in Poland, where production got underway in 2023. Enviro, a Swedish company that partnered with the Group in 2020 to develop and mass produce a highly innovative pyrolysis technology that recovers high-quality products like recycled carbon black, pyrolysis oil, steel and gas, which can then be reincorporated into the production cycle of various industries. In 2023, Enviro formed a joint venture with the Antin Infrastructure Partners investment fund that will use Enviro’s patented technology to build several end-of-life tire recycling plants in Europe with the combined capacity of one million tonnes of recycled end-of-life tires by 2030. The new venture has signed a multi-year supply agreement with Michelin. Michelin is also involved in other recycling ventures, such as the partnership formed Carbios has developed a recycling process using an enzyme capable of specifically depolymerizing the PET contained in bottles, food trays, polyester clothing and other plastic and textile products. The innovation enables infinite recycling of all types of PET waste and the production of 100% recycled and 100% recyclable PET products of quality equivalent to virgin PET, such as the polyester yarn used in tire manufacturing that Michelin successfully tested in 2021. The Carbios technology is currently in the process engineering phase. (1) Estimated figures. Collecting worldwide end-of-life tire data is difficult, making them incomplete and sometimes highly uncertain.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzMxNTcx