Asian Innovators Lead the
Way in Rubber Recycling at BIR Bangkok Convention
Pioneering recyclers
from across Asia showcased cutting-edge solutions for rubber recovery at the BIR World Recycling Convention
in Bangkok, underlining the growing potential for circular, value-added approaches
to one of the most challenging waste streams — end-of-life rubber and tyres.
Chairing the session, Max Craipeau, of Greencore Resources Pte Ltd (Hong Kong),
opened by noting that rubber
recycling is far more complex than metals or plastics.
“It’s very hard to
replace one tonne of virgin material with one tonne of recycled rubber,” he
said, stressing the need for strong
ESG commitments from brands willing to pay more for sustainable
materials.
Craipeau argued that brands must recognize the environmental and reputational value
of incorporating recycled rubber to offset higher production costs.
Asmipudin Mohd Ali Jinnah, CEO of Bridge Fields Resources (Malaysia), described
how his company — active since 2004 — has developed patented, low-heat, non-toxic recycling
technology, including a 2019 breakthrough in recycling nitrile gloves.
Bridge Fields produces
a range of reclaimed latex
materials — White Latex Reclaim, Black Latex Reclaim, and a
hybrid of latex and tyres — as well as reclaimed synthetic rubbers from
nitrile, butyl, and EPDM. These materials are used in products such as shoe soles, mats, sports surfaces, and
playground flooring.
Asmipudin highlighted the company’s commitment to certification and traceability,
holding ISO, ISCC, GRS,
and Cert B credentials. He noted that Malaysia is moving toward
mandatory ESG disclosures
by 2030, making verifiable sustainability even more vital.
“Doing the right thing
is always important,” he said. “Brands want transparency and certified sources
— they don’t want to be associated with child labour or illegal practices.”
Bridge Fields counts Timberland, which uses
up to 54% recycled latex
in its shoes, and Decathlon
among its clients.
Anansinee Thaboon, founder of Greenergy One (Thailand), presented a
carbon black recovery (rCB) innovation that adds graphene to boost
material performance — a development with significant potential for the electric vehicle (EV)
industry.
Her process involves
collecting and shredding tyres from multiple sources before pyrolysis, yielding refined carbon black.
Graphene, synthesized from methane and biogas, is combined with rCB to create high-value
composites used in coatings,
inks, plastics, and technical rubber, with future applications
in EV batteries.
“rCB
alone has low value, but when purified and combined with graphene, its worth becomes huge,” Ms. Thaboon
explained.
Panelist Faisal
Al Sharif, Director of Al
Sharif Metal Enterprises (UAE), noted that the Middle East’s rubber recycling potential remains
largely untapped, given abundant oil reserves.
“rCB
comes as a very innovative chance to start in the Gulf,” he said, agreeing with
Craipeau that the stockpiling of billions of tyres in the
region is unsustainable.
Asmipudin also emphasized the need for sustainable product design
to enable circularity in rubber-based goods, particularly footwear.
“If you design a
good-quality product, you can always reuse it,” he said, explaining that rubber’s cross-linked structure
makes it non-meltable — requiring devulcanization
to break sulphur bonds before regeneration.
The session underscored
that collaboration between
recyclers, brands, and regulators is essential to drive the
circular economy in rubber. Asia’s innovators are proving that technological breakthroughs, ESG
integrity, and design foresight can turn a difficult waste
material into a sustainable, value-generating resource — and help global brands
meet their environmental commitments.
Tyres and Rubber Committee:
Asian Innovators Offer Fresh Markets for
Secondary Rubber
Pioneering recyclers of rubber in Asia took centre
stage at the BIR World Recycling Convention in Bangkok on 28 October. Their
case studies highlighted the potential for valuable, closed loop solutions for
the challenging material. The emphasis on adding value while delivering
sustainability credentials increasingly sought by OEMs and brands came during
the session for BIR’s Tyres and Rubber Committee.
Committee Chairman Max Craipeau, Greencore
Resources Pte Ltd (Hong Kong, CHN) said it was clear that recycling rubber from
tyres and other products is much more complicated than processing metals or
plastic.
“It's very hard to replace one tonne of virgin or
primary material with one tonne of recycled [rubber] material, so we need ESG
brand commitments. Brands have to be able to communicate and take value from
the incorporation of recycled material to offset the additional costs they have
to bear with using it.”
Mr Craipeau said brands had
to be willing to pay more than they would for virgin materials so they could
promote to their own customers that they are caring for the planet, the
environment and that their products do not end up in landfill.
Asmipudin Mohd Ali Jinnah, CEO of Bridge Fields Resources (MYS), explained how
his company began recycling rubber in 2004 in Ipoh, Malaysia, before moving to
a larger site in Rasa in 2010. It patented a non-toxic, low-heat technology
treatment for recycling rubber and in 2019 found a way to recycle nitrile
gloves.
Bridge Fields delivers two recycled materials based on
recovered latex – White Latex Reclaim and Black Latex Reclaim – along with a
hybrid material made from latex and tires. The company also produces reclaimed
synthetic rubber from nitrile, butyl, and EPDM latexes.
The recycled rubber is used in the likes of the soles
of shoes or mats. Mr Asmipudin said these products
could be further granulated for use in sports fields or in playgrounds. Only at
the end of their lives would such materials be recovered to extract oil from
pyrolysis.
“Excess rubber from polymer plants is collected from
the industry that will be processed into repro-polymers,” Mr Asmipudin explained. “We take all this excess material and
reprocess it back into bales.”
He emphasised the importance of securing certification
to prove the company’s sustainability credentials. These included ISO, ISCC,
GRS and Cert B standards. It was doubly important, he said, because Malaysia
was transitioning from voluntary ESG disclosures to mandatory plans by 2030.
EV market
Anansinee Thaboon,
Founder of Greenergy One (THA), outlined her
company’s innovative business strategy of recovering carbon black (rCB) from tyres and adding graphene to produce highly
prized materials for battery manufacturers.
She explained that end-of-life tyres are collected
from several sources, including manufacturers, dealers, the logistics sector
and the community. After collection and sorting, the tyres are dried, clean and
shredded before undergoing pyrolysis, resulting in refined rCB.
Meanwhile, Graphene is synthesised from methane and biogas.
Ms Thaboon indicated that rCB alone had low value but that it doubled on
purification. The value was “huge” when it was coupled with the graphene to
become a composite that was sought by OEMs. Currently, she said, Thai customers
use the manufactured carbon black for coatings, inks, plastic and technical
rubber. In the future, the application would support the EV sector.
During a panel session which included Faisal Al
Sharif, Director, Al Sharif Metal Enterprises (UAE), Mr Craipeau
pointed out that, traditionally, tyres would be chipped for the
waste-for-energy industry or for use in artificial turf. The latter use,
however, was being challenged in Europe and the US on environmental grounds.
The Chairman pointed out to Mr Al Sharif that the
presentations could offer new uses for end-of-life tyres in regions such as the
Middle East where the stockpiling of billions of tyres could not continue for
ever.
“What I can see is that Middle East is not focusing on
rubber at all,” Mr Al Sharif replied, largely because virgin oil was so
plentiful. “So that could be a really innovative chance to get this
[technology] into the Middle East, especially those Gulf countries focusing and
producing refined oil. rCB comes as a very innovative
chance to start with it.”
Circular rubber products
Turning to circularity, Mr Asmipudin
emphasised the importance of product design in rubber products, particularly in
shoes.
“All this while we have been taught to use or to
produce a product as cheaply as possible but the problem with producing rubber
as cheaply as possible is that you have to dispose of it at the end. But if you
design something as a good quality product, you can always reuse it back
again.”
Whereas plastic or metal parts on shoes can be melted
for recycling, that is not possible with rubber products and soles, Mr Asmipudin explained: “Rubber is cross-linked, you cannot
melt it and use it, you have to devulcanize it. You have got to remove the
sulphur bond. Once we solve the cross-linking issue then we can regenerate
[soles] back to rubber, the top portion of the shoe is then a lot easier.”
He repeated his company’s insistence on transparency
and accreditation for its sustainable products when they are sold on to major
brands. Clients included Timberland uses up to 54% of recycled latex in their
show and companies like Decathlon also incorporates recycled rubber in their
shoe soles.
“They want to make sure that they are doing the right
thing by using qualified source of rubber. When they use his products, “brand
owners want a product that has been vetted and certified by a third party consultants with a certification body that
represents its core values such as GRS and others. There is traceability and
accountability on the sources where we get it from, so that's important.
“You don't want to go to a place where they use child
labour or illegal foreign workers or any other issues that can damage a brand.
Doing the right thing is always Important.”