In recent years, as new legislation has been introduced and companies have striven to produce less waste, the global interest in the recycling of rubber has grown dramatically.

Rubber recyclate in the form of powders and granules has been produced using a variety of technologies since the 1940s and these have found applications in a range of finished articles, mainly at the cheaper end of the market. For a long time the widespread adoption of recycled rubber was held back by a consistent quality but this has changed within the past decade. The quality of recycled material has now improved greatly and this has also contributed to an increase in the use of recyclate in finished articles. Higher quality products can now be manufactured containing recycled rubber. Nonetheless, the demand for recycled rubber materials is unlikely ever to keep pace with the rate of waste generation, even allowing for methods of re-using whole scrap products such as tyres. Consequently, means of converting scrap rubber back to functional raw materials or exploiting its energy contents have been subject to scrutiny.

This report contains a review of the following technologies used within the rubber recycling industry:

The development, practical application, advantages and disadvantages of the individual processes are detailed as well as the characteristics and performance of the end products. Applications of recycled rubbers, with and without other materials are discussed and future trends in rubber recycling are evaluated briefly. Extensive referencing is provided throughout to an accompanying section containing several hundred key references and abstracts selected from the Polymer Library.