Continental ContiRe.Tex Technology

Continental Tyres has an ambitious target to produce 100 percent of tyre materials from sustainable materials by 2050. To do this, the brand aims to make a positive impact towards the circular economy by reducing plastic pollution through the production of tyres.

ContiRe.Tex was developed by Continental Tyres and partner OTIZ. The special technology allows the brand to recycle PET bottles without the intermediate chemical steps previously needed, while still making the polyester yarn functional for the demands of tyres. The new, sustainable polyester yarn is made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles by a mechanical and thermal process and used in construction of the tyre carcass. This can completely replace conventional polyester. And this action of upcycling turns a PET bottle into high-performance PET material.

ContiRe.Tex will see 40 recycled PET bottles removed from landfill and reused in a set of passenger car tyres – bringing Continental Tyres one step closer to the circular economy. With the market launch in April 2022, Continental Tyres brought the technology to market in just eight months. ContiRe.Tex is used in the manufacturing of 15 tyre articles.

Compared to its conventional tyre laboratory and tyre tests, Continental Tyres has shown that ContiRe.Tex fibres deliver the same performance as the fibres used in existing tyre construction. At the IAA MOBILITY 2021, Continental Tyres presented its sustainable Conti GreenConcept tyre concept to the public for the first time. In this concept study, Continental Tyres merged current and future technologies to make sustainable passenger and light truck tyres, giving further insight into its various uses of the ContiRe.Tex technology. More than half of the Conti GreenConcept tyre consists of renewable or recycled materials. The ContiRe.Tex fibres were used to develop the tyres used in the 2022 electric SUV Extreme E racing series, for which Continental Tyres is a founding partner.