After passing an evaluation conducted by the executive committee of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR), Shandong Linglong Tyre Co., Ltd. recently joined the platform. It is the first tyre industry member headquartered in China.
Following a successful pilot scheme, Kwik Fit is increasing product availability for customers who want to buy tyres that support sustainable rubber production and help protect the rainforests of Indonesia. The company is now offering three brands of tyre that tick these boxes.
With immediate effect, tyre maker Continental will handle a portion of its natural rubber purchasing through HeveaConnect, a digital trading platform designed to ensure greater transparency and sustainability in the natural rubber supply chain. Reporting this new arrangement, Continental’s Dr Andrea Appel explains that the goal is to procure all materials from “responsible sources,” and that the key to achieving this “lies in innovative technologies and digitalisation, which can make a decisive contribution to transparency in complex supply chains.”
Japan’s Itochu Corporation announced today the commercial launch of Project TREE, an initiative that uses a blockchain-based traceability system to ensure the sustainability and traceability of natural rubber. Partners participating in the Project include Itochu subsidiaries and tyre manufacturers, and the UK will be the first market to benefit.
Pirelli’s latest efforts are quite literally for the birds – and this is by no means a bad thing. Together with the BMW Group, Pirelli is joining with BirdLife International in a three-year project that aims to favour the long-term production of sustainable and deforestation-free natural rubber in Indonesia. Our feathered friends are just one of a whole range of potential beneficiaries.
Hankook Tire and Apollo Tyres are the latest tyre manufacturers to align their natural rubber procurement policies with the framework adopted by the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) in September 2020. Indian firm Apollo has released its first natural rubber policy document, while South Korea’s Hankook has updated the policy it introduced in 2018. Earlier this week, Yokohama Rubber announced it had altered its natural rubber procurement policy to accommodate the GPSNR policy framework.
The Yokohama Rubber Co., Ltd. has announced a revision to its Procurement Policy for Sustainable Natural Rubber, which take effect this month. The revision to the procurement policy established in October 2018 incorporates the policy framework adopted by the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) at its second general assembly in September 2020.
Toyo Tire Corporation has re-examined and updated its natural rubber procurement policy and established this as an independent policy separate from the company’s CSR Procurement Guidelines that prescribe the proper procurement process for the Toyo Tire Group (the Group).
Continental is extending its commitment to sustainability in the natural rubber supply chain. The tyre maker and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) have agreed to significantly expand their project to ensure full traceability within the natural rubber supply chain in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan (Borneo).
Members of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR) convened the annual General Assembly on 23 September 2020. The event saw the approval of a members’ sustainability policy framework and the creation of a new membership category for smallholder producers of natural rubber.
