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SOUTH AMERICA
ARNEC Conference Brings Together Retreading and Recycling Sectors
industry by the introduction of the new Producer Responsilbilty Law. Considering the breadth of debate and the potential for the creation of new markets provided by the introduction of producer responsibility in this part of the world, it is perhaps appropriate that the conference commenced with a session on this topic. Speakers during this session were ARNEC President, Eduardo Acosta, the Director of the Chilean Tyre Industry Chamber, Jose Browne and Joost Meijer from the Chilean Environment Ministry. This was followed by a session on fleet tyre management featuring Browne again, as well as Tony Nicolini from Budini Inc, and Eduardo Convalia from Blotech.
In the afternoon, the focus moved specifically to challenges in the retreading
market and
analyses of
retread markets
from around
the world.
David Stevens
from TRIB and
Michael
Schwaemmlein
from BIPAVER
outlined the
key trends and
challenges in
North America
and Europe
respectively,
after which
Retreading
Business
Publisher
talked about
the challenge
posed globally
by the issue of
cheap imported
tyres from
China.
This was followed by a panel consisting of all the main retreading associations in South America, reporting on marketing trends and activities in their markets. Countries covered included Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay. The overall picture was mixed depending on the approach of individual governments, but consolidation in the market place and the challenge posed by cheap imported new tyres was a key trend.
Day 2 commenced with a lively session on retreading presented by a panel consisting of both retreaders and fleets. Representing the retreading industry were Dario Andreani of INSAMAR and
Santiago Neirino of AA Renovados, whilst the fleet sector was represented by senior executives from Sotraser, ChileTransportes AG, and Metbus. This session in particular was interesting because it illustrated the amount of misunderstandings and misinformation that still exist about retreads. Much of the session consisted of an argument as to whether it was legal to fit retreads to the front axle of commercial vehicles.
In the afternoon, the subject matter moved to more environmental and recycling issues. Speakers included Sebastien Herceg from Kyklos talking about environmental education in the tyre sector, Santiago Mujica, co- founder of Valopes talking about traceability of waste in the
Retreading Business was delighted to attend the First International Tyre & Retreading Congress, held at Casa Piedra in Santiago, Chile from 28-29 November 2017. It has
aspects of both the tyre retreading and tyre recycling sectors. In many other parts of the world we are used to seeing these two allied industries discussing issues totally
Michael Schwaemmlein from BIPAVER talked about the challenges facing retreaders in the European market
Alexei Nicolini of Budini Inc, Cristian Cardenas-Laihacar from the University of Florida, and Anna Valls of INSAMAR
been clear for some time that there has been a hunger for debate, co- operation and up-to-date market information within the South American retreading and tyre recycling markets for some time now, and it is perhaps appropriate that it was the Chilean association ARNEC, perhaps the most pro- active association in the region, that provided the catalyst for this first conference – hopefully the first of a regular series of events. Supported by the Chilean Government in the form of the Agency for Sustainability and Climate Change, the well-attended conference was unique in that it offered a full programme of activities, discussions and presentations that covered many
independently and without any reference to each other, so it was refreshing to see these two markets brought together as one industry. A measure of the importance of the event regionally, can be seen in the fact that it was opened by the Chilean Environment Minister, Marcelo Mena, also in the presence of Juan Ladron de Guevara, Executive Director of the Chilean Agency for Sustainability and Climate Change. The conference was well attended by retreaders associations across the South American continent in addition to welcoming speakers from TRIB in the USA and BIPAVER in Europe. The conference began with a session on the opportunities and challenges posed for the tyre
transport sector, Cristian Cardenas- Laihacar, who outlined the methodology used in ARNEC’s project to measure the energy efficiency of retreads and Bernadita Diaz of Sustrend.
The final session was a fascinating panel of industry leaders from the nascent tyre recycling sector in Chile including speakers from EcoTR, Kaltire Chile, Kona Fuel Spa and FICEM (the Interamerican Cement Federation). From the interaction between the participants, it was clear that there was the introduction of the producer responsibility law was having a major effect in providing impetus for the development of a new tyre recycling sector in Chile.
Some of the speakers and attendees at the ARNEC Conference
22 Retreading Business