Sustainability Statement Resource use and circular economy (E5) 04 4.6.3.2.4. The BlackCycle and WhiteCycle projects Michelin’s BlackCycle and WhiteCycle projects are designed to develop innovative materials recycling solutions, making them seamlessly aligned with the “Recycle” phase of the Avoid+4R process. n Coordinated by Michelin and financed by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program, the BlackCycle project brought together 13 European organizations to reduce CO2 emissions by developing an ecosystem for recycling end-oflife tire feedstock into high-quality secondary raw materials. Among the resulting technologies have been tire deconstruction machines and pyrolysis processes, which recycle granulated rubber into pyrolysis oils and regenerated carbon black. n Also coordinated by Michelin and financed by the European Union’s Horizon program, the €9.6 million, 16-partner WhiteCycle project is focused on recycling complex textilesbased plastics into high value-added materials. Its primary objective is to recycle more than two million tonnes of PET waste a year by 2030, in ways that reduce its environmental impact. These two projects attest to Michelin’s engagement in a strategic recycling process, supporting its commitment to using 100% renewable or recycled materials in its tires by 2050, while enhancing resource circularity across the tire industry. 4.6.3.2.5. Partnership with Enviro Another example of a recycling project is the partnership with Swedish company Enviro, formed in 2020 to develop and mass produce a pyrolysis technology capable of recovering high-quality products like carbon black, pyrolysis oil, steel and gas, which can then be re-incorporated into the production cycle of various industries. In 2023, Enviro set up a joint venture with the Antin Infrastructure Partners investment fund to build several end-of-life tire recycling plants in Europe. The first such site is scheduled to come on stream in Sweden, with capacity to recycle 35,000 tonnes a year. The joint venture plans on building plants throughout Europe, targeting a total annual recycling capacity of one million tonnes of ELTs. Antin and Enviro have already agreed to a financing plan for the construction of these installations. 4.6.3.3 End-of-Life Tires (ELTs) In 2024, Michelin pursued the initiatives underway to support the systematic management of end-of-life tires, in line with the above-mentioned Policy. The first initiative focuses on developing collective end-of-life tire collection, recovery and reuse systems. Michelin strengthened its commitment to these solutions during the year by collaborating with a variety of trade associations. Among them, the Tire Industry Project (TIP) has organized discussion sessions since 2021 in Europe, the United States, China and India, with Michelin's active participation. These discussions bring together value chain stakeholders to gain greater insight into local end-oflife tire management and recycling issues and identify pathways to improvement. They have supported the preparation of proposals for revising two international guidelines, the Harmonized System of Customs Codes and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes, to encourage the marketing of secondary raw materials derived from end-of-life tires. In addition, Michelin is working with such tire industry associations as ETRMA, USTMA and JATMA to ensure the proper collection and treatment of end-of-life tires. The Group supports the concept of extended producer responsibility and is exercising its influence to encourage materials recovery, which generally offers a smaller carbon footprint than energy recovery. The second initiative is developing closed-loop end-of-life tire recovery and reuse systems, capable of securing the supply of the resulting secondary raw materials. 254 2024 UNIVERSAL REGISTRATION DOCUMENT_MICHELIN
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