Schwalbe’s tyre take-back programme has collected 2.6 million tyres since 2022, with the tally dated August 2026. Collection is only the beginning: recovering material for new production is the next step.
Bicycle tyres of different brands reach recycling company Pyrum through participating dealers. Shredding separates steel, textiles and rubber. Pyrolysis turns the rubber into gas, oil and recovered carbon black, or rCB, which replaces part of the fossil-derived carbon black in new tyres.
Inner tubes follow another route: butyl rubber is recovered through devulcanisation. Schwalbe’s standard tubes contain around 20% recycled material. The tyre collection programme is listed for Germany; collection options in Latvia need checking separately, with tyres and tubes treated as different streams.