Finland's Nokian Tyres launches a sustainable tire using birch bark

Finland's Nokian Tyres has launched the Betula concept tire, which contains raw material made from birch bark, the company said in a Jan. 22 statement.

Sweden's Reselo will provide the renewable material by using the residue from the global pulp, paper, and plywood industries.

The launch, which incorporates a new material into the tread compound, marks a significant development in tire manufacturing and brings Nokian Tyres a step closer to its goal to increase the share of recycled and renewable materials in tires to 50% by 2030, according to the company.

This is the latest sustainability advancement in the European rubber and tire industry.

Sustainability has become a key area of interest among rubber and tire producers as they prepare for EU regulations that stipulate that, after 2036, at least 25% of the plastics used in vehicles must come from recycled material, with 20% of that share coming from end-of-life vehicles.

"The tire industry's sheer scale and traditionally conservative approach make it a challenging, but vital, space for rubber innovation, said Reselo CEO Josefin Larsson. "Birch bark is a high-volume forestry side-stream abundant in the Nordics, and we are working together toward better-performing and more sustainable products with circularity at the core."

The concept tire has been tested at Nokian Tyres' facilities in Ivalo, Finnish Lapland, and Nokia, Finland. Nokia Tyres primarily sees the new material as a performance-enhancing addition.

"The Nokian Tyres Betula concept tire confirms its applicability and highlights the material's potential for commercial use in the future. Furthermore, the material is not only sustainable but, according to our testing, it also shows promise to improve tire performance," said Teemu Soini, Nokia Tyres vice president of Innovations & Development.