How car tires drive deforestation | DW Documentary

Rainforests are sacrificed to provide the rubber used in tires, even though alternatives exist. 70% of the global rubber harvest goes to the tire industry, which must now meet new supply chain rules approved by the European Parliament in April 2024.

The rules are designed to ensure due diligence and corporate accountability. Once the law takes effect, manufacturers in the EU will need to show their tires do not contain natural rubber from deforested land. The likes of Continental and Michelin will be obliged to make their supply chains more transparent. This certification process poses a problem for producers. Most natural rubber is produced in Asia. The supply chains from rubber farmers through various intermediaries to Europe have, however, been largely nontransparent to date. Companies are therefore exploring alternative materials and methods.

Tire manufacturer Pirelli, for example, is working with sustainable producers in Thailand. Michelin is testing high-tech tires to increase the service life of its products. And Continental, in cooperation with a leading German research institute, is looking into a raw material that could act as a substitute: the Russian dandelion. If cultivated on a large scale in Europe, it could help offset the demand for natural rubber. In addition, discarded old tires could be retreaded, recycled, and put back on the market - instead of ending up on a landfill site. Is the industry having a genuine change of heart, or are these merely examples of greenwashing?

#documentary #dwdocumentary #rainforest
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[Alfred]

It's everything. If we don't find way to make everything sustainable we gonna pay the price

[DrawThatFox-rqsx]

More public transportation less private, this would be a good starting point.

[joseenoel]

I bike 🚲 all the time, yes in winter too, scrapped my car as not drive teens around which would have only of crippled them up! Great doc, I majored in Sylviculture and left my career over disgust of how things work in Québec, we live in a car culture, people use them like they are their legs then blame their liabilities to function on old age 😊 !

[eustaciogriego]

Nature can be wonderful if we treated fair. Thank you for the information and your efforts maybe something good will come of this .

[urbanstrencan]

This just crazy how green transformation is taking its toll on forest

[yarngod]

I thiught its all syntethic. Thanks for info.

[aaronaustrie]

Where else will they get the resources to make the tire. I want to know fr

[joseryanalmodovar]

What an innovative idea to take gently used tires and retread them!! If this were more widely available it could have the potential to greatly reduce the need for manufacturing so many new tires!

[professionaltaxevader]

Nice documentary, but it could also have touched the whole idea of of governments striving for the existence of a better and more affordable public transportation system. My reasoning is that if we keep ourselves in the tires aspects of vehicles 40 people needing 80 tires could fit in a bus that only needs 4 tires.

[QuietJugung]

23:30 The unproductive land should be reforested and returned to nature.

[randomoto]

At 14:43 I think you meant to use an image of the iconic Michelin Man, but inadvertently inserted an image of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from the 1984 movie Ghostbusters. Welcome comic relief from a depressing topic, I guess.

Otherwise, this an excellent documentary! Thank you for bringing this problem to more people's attention. Our dumb obsession with automobiles needs to die.

[onlythetruth]

An important aspect that was never mentioned in this excellent documentary is that the more agressive the acceleration, turning and braking, the greater the wear. Therefore if people are as concerned by the climate as we'd like to think they'll use their personal agency to drive as gently as possible as little as possible. As they did say in this presentation, everything marketing is BIGGER, MORE POWER, AGRESSIVE !!!

[florindefloriane]

I was thinking that a guy had discovered synthetic rubber.... Wtf, had he died?!

[niloronda]

Rubber trees are the best for reforestatio n in Mindanao, the Philippines. Farmers doesn't have to wait long to generate income from rubber than from hardwood trees planted on denuded land.

[oldsteamguy]

thats how it is with my jeans when a knee wears out

[steveerhart]

It's fascinating that the roots from a flower can be made to a type of rubber. It's great that Continental Tire is doing this innovative work. There was no mention of American companies like Firestone or Goodyear. Perhaps, they are looking for alternatives?

[denisk]

bigger wheels that are offered for cars are oposite to amount of rubber. size refers to aluminium rim size. actualy bigger size mean lower tire profile and thus less rubber if width is same of course

[AnDy-ofmj]

The US military alone uses 48, 000, 000 litres of fuel per day...

[zolisamaine]

New rubber but we can not find ways to dispose the used tires. Same try to dispose them by creating coral reef base. They can't be recycled?

[sogsog]

The new alternative plant that produce rubber per the news also requires large land area to produce, but the problem will be the same - land clearance, that is not a sustainable/viable option.