The new high-performance material will first be used in selected sizes for Continental’s PremiumContact 6 and EcoContact 6 summer tyres and the AllSeasonContact tyre.

The new material completely replaces the conventional polyester used in the carcasses of tyres, with a set of four using around 40 recycled PET bottles.

The bottles used come exclusively from regions of the world without a closed recycling loop. After being sorted and mechanically cleaned, the PET bottles are shredded and further processed into granulate and finally spun into polyester yarn.

Ferdinand Hoyos, who heads Continental’s tyre replacement business in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) said, “We only use high-performance materials in our premium tyres. From now on, these will include polyester yarn from PET bottles, made in a particularly efficient recycling process. We brought our innovative ContiRe.Tex technology to the production stage in just eight months. I’m proud of our entire team for this remarkable achievement.”

Continental is initially offering the PremiumContact 6, the EcoContact 6 and the AllSeasonContact with ContiRe.Tex technology in five sizes each.

Photo: Continental is making tyres from PET bottles.