The world’s ten main tyre manufacturers are to collaborate on a
research programme to assess the social, health and environmental
impacts of the manufacturing and use of their products.
The collaboration was agreed in Los Angeles last month by the chief
executives of the companies from Europe, Japan, Korea and North America.
The three biggest manufacturers – Bridgestone, Goodyear and Michelin,
together controlling more than half the global market – with
Continental, Cooper, Hankook, Kumho, Pirelli, Sumitomo and Yokohama,
will work with materials suppliers during the next 18 months ‘to better
understand the current potential and future risks of chemicals in
tyres’.
The project will be conducted by the San Francisco-based consultancy
ChemRisk and will be co-ordinated by the World Business Council
for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), a grouping of 190 companies.
Representatives of tyre industry associations in Europe, Japan, Korea and the US attended the meeting to offer support.
The companies say they will use the findings to ‘formulate an approach to making the industry more sustainable’.
The Geneva-based WBCSD is running similar projects in the cement and forestry sectors.
