Would You Fancy Michelin Tires Made Out Of Recycled Plastic Bottles?

Michelin, the most popular brand that brings us high-quality tires, wants to embrace the environmental-friendly trend and create its tires out of recycled plastic bottles. Don’t get panicked. It does not mean that your car will be riding entirely on plastic since Michelin plans to "achieving 40% sustainable materials (of renewable or recycled origin) by 2030 and 100% by 2050".

The French tire giant had succeeded in its first plastic recycling technology in partnership with French biochemistry company Carbios. The biochemistry “enzymatic recycling process for PET plastic waste relies on an enzyme that is capable of depolymerizing plastic. PET is the type of plastic used to make bottles, polyester clothing, and even some types of carpets. It's commonly recycled (including into fleece jackets), but is also one major source of plastic waste.”

According to Michelin, these conventional recycling practices are more about the enzymatic process resulting in high tenacity polyester that is particularly suitable for tires, bringing breakage resistance, toughness, and thermal stability. This way, the new Michelin might win more using the plastic bottles in making a solid base for their final product.

According to, director of polymer research at Michelin Nicolas Seeboth, these high-tech reinforcements have demonstrated their ability to provide performance identical to those from the oil industry. If we believe the Michelin’s estimations, at nearly 3 billion plastic bottles per year could be recycled into technical fibers for use in the company’s tires. Imagine how would this impact the environment if other companies would embrace this trend?