IN BRIEF
Schwalbe says it is extending its take-back system for worn bicycle tyres beyond Germany for the first time. Austria goes first, with a pilot phase now running at selected retailers, and equivalent projects are due to start in the coming months in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The manufacturer is aiming for a full roll-out in all four countries during 2027. In Germany, the scheme, opened in July 2022, claims more than 2,000 participating dealers and more than 2.6 million tyres collected and recycled (as of August 2026), all brands included.
| Countries covered | Austria, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg |
| Austrian pilot phase | now under way, at selected retailers |
| Official start targeted for | during 2027, in all four countries |
| German programme launched in | July 2022, with TH Köln and Pyrum Innovations AG |
| Participating dealers (Germany) | more than 2,000 |
| Tyres collected and recycled | more than 2.6 million (as of August 2026) |
| Brands accepted | all of them, at participating retailers |
| Processing partner | Pyrum Innovations AG |
| Emissions saving from recycled carbon black | around 73% per tonne compared with fossil carbon black |
What becomes of a bicycle tyre once its owner has finished with it? Since July 2022, Schwalbe has offered an answer in Germany with its tyre recycling scheme: a take-back channel at dealers that sends the carcasses to pyrolysis rather than to ordinary end-of-life disposal. On 14 September 2026, the German manufacturer announced that the system is leaving the country — “Schwalbe startet sein Reifenrecycling erstmals außerhalb Deutschlands”, the press release writes, that is, the first roll-out of the scheme outside Germany.
Bicycle tyre recycling opens up to four countries
Austria is the country the press release names first. It says a pilot project is running there “right away” with selected retailers, long enough to test procedures and logistics flows; the official start of the service, for its part, is announced for some point during 2027. In the coming months, pilots of the same kind are due to open in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, and Schwalbe is aiming to bring the take-back and recycling system into service in all four countries during 2027.
The principle remains the one proven in Germany: riders bring their worn tyres back to a participating dealer, and the press release specifies that the system accepts tyres “aller Marken”, all brands whatever the make, not just Schwalbe ones. For a workshop, the distinction matters: it decides what can go into the collection box.
From the shop’s box to the pyrolysis furnace
The route is industrial and short. The tyres pile up in collection boxes at retailers, then go to the recycling partner Pyrum Innovations AG. There they are shredded and separated into rubber granulate, steel and textile. Pyrolysis then turns the rubber into secondary materials — recycled carbon black (Recovered Carbon Black, rCB) and pyrolysis oil — which Schwalbe says it feeds back into its production. Schwalbe states that it reuses this recovered carbon black in around 70% of its entire product portfolio.
That is where the environmental argument is decided. According to the press release, the rCB from this recycling emits around 73% fewer greenhouse gases per tonne than carbon black of fossil origin — a figure Schwalbe frames precisely: a partial carbon footprint up to the factory gate, GWP100 method according to the sixth assessment report of the IPCC. The press release adds that the rCB and the pyrolysis oil are reused as materials, and not burned.
Four years of German bedding-in
The German programme started in July 2022, after development carried out with TH Köln (the Cologne University of Applied Sciences) and Pyrum Innovations AG. Schwalbe writes that no comparable take-back and recycling system existed for bicycle tyres anywhere in the world at the time.
The counters, for their part, are public: more than 2,000 dealers have taken part in the scheme since it opened, and more than 2.6 million worn tyres have been collected and recycled since 2022, a figure stopped at August 2026.
That leaves the question every French reader will ask: what about us? The 14 September press release names four countries — Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg — and stops there. As of the date of the announcement, France was therefore not among the markets announced.
