Veronica Cantonetti, Raw Materials - Compounding & Sustainability Director at Yokohama TWS, highlights the importance of optimally balancing natural, recycled, and fossil-based materials to achieve the desired performance and sustainability. Recent trends in off-highway tyre manufacturing show a shift towards polymers and recycled materials, including textiles. Trelleborg’s TM1 ECO POWER agricultural tyre, for example, features 65% sustainable components, while material handling and construction tyres incorporate up to 46%.

Incorporating sustainable materials is only part of the solution. Cantonetti emphasises that ensuring these materials deliver equal or superior performance is crucial. Innovations like using silica from rice husks to reduce fuel consumption and replacing synthetic antioxidants with cashew nut shell blends to improve tyre ageing resistance are some of the steps Trelleborg has taken to enhance sustainability in its products.

AI plays a significant role in Trelleborg’s research and development, enabling chemists to predict and evaluate tyre compound properties more efficiently. This reduces development time, lab iterations, and testing material waste, thus supporting sustainability goals. However, human expertise remains vital in selecting and refining AI-generated solutions.

Cantonetti envisions future efforts focusing on using AI to create formulations from sustainable resources, aiming to offer competitive and fully sustainable products. Trelleborg Tyres continues to innovate, ensuring their products meet high performance standards while promoting environmental responsibility.

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