WBCSD Annual Review 2006 NEW.qxp - Sustentabilidad.uai.edu.ar

Tire
Industry Project
Traffic flow on an American freeway.
“Motor vehicles greatly influence
environmental conditions in the
cities of the industrial world.”
Brundtland Report, 1987
“The influence of tires on overall vehicle performance means they have
significant impact on the environment, economic and social aspects of
mobility.”
Michelin corporate website, 2006
Tires tend to be taken for granted as a minute part of the transport sector and
its equipment. Yet they have huge effects on both the safety and the energy
efficiency of the vehicle they support.
They also offer sustainability challenges and opportunities from their
manufacture through their use to their disposal or recycling. Simple in
appearance, tires are quite sophisticated products, the making of which involves
a complex blend of materials and assembly processes. A typical tire includes
dozens of different components, using more than one hundred primary raw
materials, which must be precisely assembled and processed to achieve the right
balance between many competing factors: grip, energy efficiency, handling,
comfort, noise and cost, to name a few.
Many industry leaders want to understand more about the sustainability
challenges they face and to formulate an approach to making the industry more
sustainable: assessing and managing impacts from its products and processes.
They hope to encourage discussion of the issues with their key stakeholders in
ways that are balanced, interactive and constructive.
Action
Formally established in early 2006, the Tire Industry Project (TIP) aims to address
the potential health and environmental impacts of materials associated with tire
making and use. TIP includes 11 companies representing more than 80% of the
world’s tire manufacturing capacity.
Initially the TIP is addressing two topics:
• Evaluating chemicals commonly used in tire making for any potential health
and/or environmental impacts;
• Understanding the fate and impacts of tire particles generated during normal
tire use and wear.
Scoping work in 2006 examined the availability and quality of existing data
dealing with these two issues, identified knowledge gaps, and developed a
comprehensive plan to fill those gaps in succeeding years. More than 3,000
scientific references have been found and reviewed including material in English,
German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese and Korean. A comprehensive, searchable
database is being built for future use of this data.
Co-Chairs
Bridgestone
Goodyear
Michelin
32
Shoshi Arakawa
Robert Keegan
Michel Rollier
A small, independent assurance group reviewed initial scoping work for focus and
processes to ensure a balanced approach to the key sustainability issues the
industry faces. Members are drawn from Dubai, the United States, France, Japan
and Malaysia, and cover fields such as public health, remote sensing, roadway
design and environmental impact.
Moving forward
Company CEOs will review the 2006 scoping work in early 2007 and consider
further studies and action at that time.