At Bridgestone, we have made it our goal to help contribute to a more sustainable society. Each day, we take a step closer. Over the years, we’ve continued to improve the efficiency of our day-to-day operations, at the same time reducing our energy use, emissions, and waste. We also look up and down our value chain, from where our materials come from to where they go after they are used. We offer tire recycling services at our Firestone retail stores and encourage everyone to help in our efforts. And we’ll continue to do more.
As we look into the future, we’ve asked ourselves, how can we make a bigger impact? Recently, Bridgestone unveiled one of the answers – a breakthrough tire design that provides a more environmentally mindful transportation option. Taking some inspiration from nature, which reuses and recycles nearly everything, we’ve designed a tire that is 100% recyclable, requires less maintenance, and performs to the exacting standards you expect from our products. The tire of the future is “non-pneumatic”, i.e. it doesn’t need air. That’s right, an airless tire!
The Bridgestone Air-Free Concept tire features an inner spoke system with a special curve. The spokes, arranged in an interlacing fashion, allow the tire to flex while providing the strength of pneumatic tires. After three years of development, Bridgestone finally unveiled the first viable and potentially mass producible airless tire in November and displayed several prototypes at the 42nd Tokyo Motor Show 2011, which began on November 30. The most significant environmental benefit of the Air-Free Concept is it’s “cradle to cradle” potential. Cradle to cradle is the name for a process that’s based on nature’s systems, reusing and recycling materials in a regenerative, endless, and healthy process. We developed the air-free tires from materials that can be used again or recycled into other useful products. For example, the rubber and tread is recyclable and the spoke structure within the tire is made from reusable thermoplastic resin. This will allow us to reduce the amount of materials we consume and reduce the impact of the tires after they’ve lived a useful life, in total reducing our impact on the environment and lessening our carbon emissions.
In addition to being 100% recyclable, the air-free tires possess other positive environmental characteristics. For example, improper tire inflation is a significant cause of unnecessary gas consumption and its associated cost. Since the air-free tires are maintenance free, customers won’t have to worry about keeping them properly inflated and can rest assured they are optimizing their gas usage. The airless tires also eliminate the worry of flats, since punctures won’t drain the air. Many customers will be able to get rid of the extra weight of that spare tire in the trunk, greatly reducing gas consumption and carbon emissions for the entire life of the tire. Finally, airless tires will reduce the need for additional products like air compressors and tire pumps, saving you money and reducing the need for additional materials.
As we look into the future, we know the world will keep spinning and you will need to keep on moving. So, with nature in mind, we have designed a tire that keeps people moving, safer than ever, while offering recyclability that makes our planet cleaner, greener, and more sustainable. The Air-Free Concept is one of many great outcomes of our global environmental program – One Team One Planet.
