OLD TIRES are often not disposed of or recycled properly. KIAS Recycling is the only plant in Austria that breaks down tires into components and returns the raw materials to the cycle.

The tires are piled meters high on the premises of KIAS Recycling, a specialist in used tire recycling in the municipality of Ohlsdorf in the district of Gmunden. November is peak season. “When winter tires become mandatory on 1 November, trucks come almost every day and bring us new material,” says Christian Zirgoi, who has been running the business for four years.
The tires come from garages all over Austria, directly from organizations with large vehicle fleets and occasionally private individuals who pay around 1.50 euros for a single car tire. For larger quantities, there are graduated prices and individual offers, billed according to actual weight.
This disposal fee may not seem high for an average tire price of 100 euros or more, but experience at KIAS clearly shows how sensitive consumers and garages are to this issue.
Zirgoi can read the tire profiles, for him they are a seismograph. “The tread depth of the delivered tires is sometimes lower than usual. This suggests that they are being driven for longer to save money.”
However, if the tires are actually removed, they then travel many more kilometers in Europe and even beyond the continent. “Tires are a business and move in large streams,” says Zirgoi, “they do so through official and informal channels.” The fact that there are gigantic used tire dumps in Hungary, but no traces of proper disposal or recycling, has also been known in Austria since a “ZIB 2” report.
TIRE TOURISM. Where the tires end up is usually determined by the price. “In Italy and France, the CHRISTIAN ZIRGOI came across tires by chance. After working in industry and the start-up sector, the 36-year-old business economist joined KIAS (Kirchdorfer/ Asamer) Recycling GmbH as a key account manager in 2017. He has been managing the business there since 2020. “Once I had familiarized myself with the subject matter, I was immediately gripped by the dimensions and development opportunities.”

Manufacturers are responsible for taking back tires and have priced this in,” says Zirgoi, explaining the different models. “If it costs around 100 euros to collect a tire in Italy and 65 euros in Croatia, it’s logical that tire tourism arises.” This leads to the curious situation that more tires are produced in Croatia than are used in the country, as well as winter tires that nobody puts on there.
Nevertheless, of the 70,000 tons of used tires that accumulate in Austria every year, a good 20,000 end up at KIAS in Ohlsdorf. The 18 employees there inspect them and sort out foreign materials such as metal parts, wood or plastic as a first step. They are then sent to a special plant designed for this purpose, which was built in 2002, where they undergo a three-stage separation process until rubber granulate, steel and fibers are separated again.
Recycling is energy-intensive. Due to the recent rise in electricity costs, KIAS had to briefly increase its purchase prices in 2022 and felt the immediate response: “The quantities of tires sold fell,” says Zirgoi. He solved the dilemma on the production side, invested in photovoltaic systems and optimized throughput times at the plant. “This enabled us to reduce the proportion of electricity in the costs again and also lower the purchase prices.”
What the Ohlsdorf plant ultimately produces is fed back into the cycle: “Steel and rubber granulate are sought-after raw materials,” says Zirgoi. “The steel is high quality and is melted down again. The rubber granulate is reused as an oil binder, aggregate for asphalt, insulating material or for handrails for escalators, sports and playground surfaces.”
What was on the road is returned to the road, for example as rubber-modified bitumen asphalt from the company Rubbertec, which uses rubber powder from KIAS. The lower CO2 emissions also speak in favor of material recycling as practiced by KIAS.

“Thermal recycling in the cement plant produces 70 percent CO2.” Apart from that, there is hardly a cement plant in Austria that still accepts tires at all because they are now fired with other substitute fuels.

TIRES TO TIRES. Zirgoi’s vision is to consistently close the tire loop. He is working on bringing the rubber granulate directly back into tire production. “Talks are underway with one of the major tire manufacturers and are very promising. We want the tires to end up back in the production of new tires.”

Zirgoi is not just talking about sustainability: “If a tire has to be changed due to insufficient tread depth, only around twelve percent of the tire is worn out. What’s more, the granulate we produce costs only a tenth of the extremely valuable natural rubber.” The long transportation routes of natural rubber from Southeast Asia could be partially reduced. The transnational European Alliance for the Future of Tires is now campaigning for this – and has won sustainability awards: azur-netzwerk.de.

SCARCE RESOURCES IN EUROPE. Efforts to consistently close product cycles through recycling are becoming stronger on all sides. Klaus Reuter, Head of the Secondary Materials Trade Division at the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce, also points out the increasing importance of these concepts: “Resources in Europe are generally becoming scarcer, they are becoming more expensive and CO2 emissions are playing a more important role.” And, he emphasizes: “Attention is also increasing because investors and banks are paying more attention to the issue.”

Reuter would like to see more environmental awareness and a willingness to make a contribution from motorists: “As soon as it comes to paying, many get creative. An intact environment should be worth the few euros for professional and sustainable used tire disposal,” he says. Zirgoi can only agree with this.

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