Bekaert announced that the company has delivered its first batch of tire reinforcement with third-party certified recycled steel content to Bridgestone Corporation.

A press release said that Bekaert has been paving the way for tire reinforcement with high recycled content that contributes to the circular economy. That steel’s recycled content reduced the company’s CO2 footprint by about 50%.

“There are many claims about circularity of materials in the tire industry, but lack of clear definitions and standards can lead to doubt on the validity of those claims,” said Bekaert’s Heiko Isselee, innovation platform manager for recycled steel. “This third-party certification of both Bekaert and our wire rod supplier enables us to provide our customers with a guarantee of compliance of the recycled content claims based on recognized industry standards.”

The certificate allows customers such as Bridgestone to include the recycled content in the Bekaert products it uses to the tally of recycled content in their tires. Bekaert applies the best available recycled content definitions and traceability of materials. Bekaert’s tire reinforcement has a minimum recycled content of 50% for tire cord and 70% for bead wire. The rigorous processes at the supplier’s wire rod factory and at the Bekaert steel cord plant allow Bekaert to trace the content in the composition and separate this material from others in all steps of production, storage, and transport. Thus, it is guaranteed that the physical content of the steel cord and bead wire supplied to our customers contain the declared amount of recycled steel.

“This successful pilot is the first step toward setting a new industry standard for recycled content in tire reinforcement, and to making certified tire reinforcement with high recycled content available to our customers across the globe,” the release said.