A Review of 2018 & a Look Into 2019

It is the first of December 2018. I am writing from Shanghai & I am still in full throttle of recovered carbon black consulting work!

For me, the current travel year started off in January with the meeting of the Sustainable Materials Group in London. The 2019 meeting will be on February 27th and I will present about the “Future of tire recycling”! My work is complementary to what ARTIS do, they analyse rubber performance of tire recycling products and I advise my clients on how to improve quality of recovered carbon black and where to market the tire recycling products. Here’s to a good collaboration in 2019, Chris Norris!

On January 18th 2018, I presented about the state of tire pyrolysis to the European Tire and Rubber Manufacturing Association (“ETRMA”) in Brussels. A friendly shout-out to Jean-Pierre Taverne who does excellent work on the stats of ELT recycling in the EU28 plus Serbia, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey!

On February 9th 2018, I visited the tire pyrolysis company Enrestec in Kaohsiung, Taiwan! Enrestec are championing tire pyrolysis in Asia and have developed many applications for recovered carbon black, including neoprene wet-suits and tires. Good work Benson Tsai, Andy Yuan and Morgan Wu!

From February 19th till 22nd 2018 was the Tire Technology Expo and Conference in Hannover. I presented about “What tire companies should look for when investing in tire pyrolysis” (this PPT is in the 2018 presentation pack available in my web shop). I am already confirmed for the 2019 event and look forward to presenting about the future of tire recycling on the TireTechnology conference 2019.

On February 26th-27th I scouted my consulting client Alina Premium to bio paint makers in northern Germany and presented their innovative non-biocidal paint in-can and film preservative products.

On March 7th, I talked in a panel discussion together with my friend Jiří Brejcha from Mitas/Trelleborg about the “Circular Economy & Sustainability in the Elastomer Industry” on the 5th World Elastomer Summit in Düsseldorf. Thanks to fellow growth hacker Aleksandre Chrikishvili, you rock!

The conference of the European Tyre Recycling Association (“ETRA”) on March 14t-16th in Brussels was well attended. I presented about “Value adding markets for recovered carbon black” (this PPT is in the 2018 presentation pack available in my web shop) and met new tire pyrolysis clients.

From April 2018 till December 2018, I managed the plastic masterbatch category for the plastic packaging company Coveris Flexibles. A great company & team and you surely touch their packaging products every day! If you take a closer look, you also can see Michaela Vlkova who is managing the Masterbatches category from 2019!


On April 12th I worked with Hutchinson engineers in Montargis on recovered carbon black applications in rubber. A great company and excellent engineers!

On May 2nd I visited the German Space Agency materials development centre (“DLR”) in Cologne with the Canadian tire services company Kaltire.

I did a first visit of the tire pyrolysis plant of my French consulting client AlphaCarbone In Brevans. This company is integrated into the tire collection company AlphaRecyclage and use a unique vapo-thermolyse process. Always a pleasure working with Laura Pech, Serge Da Silva and Christophe Demory!

The inaugural The Tire Expo & Conference in Cologne had a well attended recycling forum organised by David Wilson and Ewan Scott where I presented about growth hacking for tire pyrolysis companies (“Tire Pyrolysis: More than Technology; in the 2018 presentation pack available in my web shop”). I am sure there will be a recycling forum on the next event and would love to present there again.

For the first time in my life I travelled to Argentina and Chile! At the Jornada de Reciclado in Buenos Aires, I presented in Spanish about “Lo que las compañías deberían evaluar al invertir en pirólisis de neumáticos” (in the 2018 presentation pack available in my web shop). This was an updated version of my TireTech presentation adapted for the South American region. Thank you Patricia Malnati for the invitation! South America is a developing market for tire recycling and, in particular, for tire pyrolysis!

I also met with many tire recycling entrepreneurs in Santiago de Chile and I visited Kaltire in Antofagasta where they are building a high tech OTR tire pyrolysis facility. San Pedro de Atacama was a really nice touristic sightseeing byproduct!

On June 27th 2018 I worked in Thornton Cleveleys with the specialty polymers manufacturer Victrex on social selling and marketing on Linkedin. Are you also interested in learning how you can include Linkedin into your existing sales process? Ask me!

Summer time is DKT time! The German Rubber Association’s conference and expo in Nürnberg was from July 3rd till July 5th. It was great meeting with old and new business friends.

On July 10th-11th I went to Glenrothes, and Carlisle to meet my microwave tire pyrolysis client Rotawave Scotland! Not sure whether haggis fits into my ketogenic diet, but it was sooo good!

After the summer break, I went to Automechanika & Reifen Frankfurt on September 13th, meeting Flora Chan from Messe Frankfurt HongKong and my Linkedin friend Jonathan Webster who is managing the sponsorships of German #1 football club Borussia Dortmund.

Carbon Black World 2018 was from September 24th till September 26th in Düsseldorf. I led a 3 hour workshop speaker panel on recovered carbon black, chaired the first day and presented together with Pieter ter Haar from Pyrolyx about “Recovered carbon black (rCB), threat or opportunity?”. I have blogged about this event on Linkedin. Thanks to my friends François Terrade, Pieter ter Haar, Chris Norris, Serge Da Silva and Scott Farnham who joined me for the speaker panel in my workshop! The information rich transcript of my rCB workshop is available in my web shop!

Rimini is the place for the Italian recycling fair Ecomondo, which took place on November 6th-9th 2018. I attended the show with my Italian microwave pyrolysis client Tyrebirth.

Brussels  again and ETRMA again on November 16th 2018! Salvatore Pinizzotto from the International Rubber Study Group invited me to the meeting of the Industry Advisor Panel (“IAP”) where I presented about ““A current and future view on ‘re recycling” with focus on European tire recycling (in the 2018 presentation pack available in my web shop).

The Automechanika & Reifen Shanghai was from November 28th till December 1st 2018. David Wilson from Valebridge Media Services and Flora Chan from Messe Frankfurt (HK) Ltd invited me to the “China International Conference on Tyre Industry Cooperation & Developments” where I presented about “The tire recycling of the future” (in the 2018 presentation pack available in my web shop). This conference focused on China and also had industry gurus like David Shaw from Tire Industry Research presenting. I also met my new friends Richard Wilson and Sandro García-Salmones Torres from Valebridge Media Services in Madrid with whom I already have a couple of projects in the queue for 2019!

Next week, I will work in Fatima  with my Portuguese tire pyrolysis client BB&G-AWES.

And on December 10th, I will meet tire pyrolysis friends from from Thailand  in Berlin.

In 2019, I will go to many of the sequel events. Some new events will include:

  • The Jornada de Reciclado de Neumáticos of the Chilean Association of Retreading and Renewing of Tires in Santiago de Chile.
  • The World Rubber Summit in Singapore.

I have also collaboration on conferences and my own workshops in the making as well as my first iPhone App. 2019 will be a super exiting year!

How did your year 2018 look like? What are you going to do in 2019? What recovered carbon black project will we collaborate on?? Comment here!