Tires that have reached the end of the road are being harvested for carbon black and used to produce powder coatings in a new cooperation between AkzoNobel and Dutch company Black Bear.

The cradle-to-cradle certified carbon black supplied by Black Bear – which is obtained from end-of-life tires – is being used as pigment in the eco-premium products developed by AkzoNobel’s Powder Coatings business. With this cooperation, AkzoNobel not only uses carbon black, traditionally obtained from fossil fuels, with a vastly lower CO2 footprint, but also helps to solve the global waste tire problem.

“This partnership is a great example of how the supply chain can contribute to CO2 savings,” said André Veneman, AkzoNobel’s director of sustainability. “We encourage more suppliers to work with us and collectively contribute to developing more sustainable product solutions.”

Martijn Lopes Cardozo, CEO of Black Bear, said, “We are proud to have partnered with AkzoNobel, which is clearly recognized as the leader in sustainable paints and coatings.”

Powder coatings are an inherently sustainable product as they contain no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and produce virtually no waste. The majority of products supplied through AkzoNobel’s Interpon brand also qualify as eco-premium.

“We are pleased to have partnered with an innovative company like Black Bear,” said Klaas Kruithof, AkzoNobel’s chief technology officer for paints and coatings. “We selected their product based on technical performance and environmental footprint, in line with our own Planet Possible agenda of doing more with less.”

In addition to announcing the agreement, the two companies also will work together to find additional applications for Black Bear’s certified carbon black.