Continental and Security Matters Test Marker Technology to Trace Natural Rubber

"We are testing this marker technology to ensure in the future that the natural rubber we use in our tires has been verifiably grown and sourced in a fully sustainable manner," says Claus Petschick, Head of Sustainability at Continental's Tires business area. He adds, "We aim to procure all our materials from responsible sources. Innovative technologies and digitalization make an important contribution to this." Thus, by 2050 at the latest, all materials used by Continental in its worldwide tire production are to be sourced responsibly.

Extensive laboratory tests by the two project partners have been successful. For example, different marker substances currently being tested have been detected both in the natural rubber latex ("Rubber tree to rubber bale test section") and in the processed and vulcanized natural rubber of the tire ("Rubber bale to tire test section"), and thus along the entire manufacturing process, without altering the appearance and performance of the end product.

Continental and Security Matters are now working on utilizing the new marker technology to be used on a larger scale during the process of rubber extraction. "Our collaboration shows that physical and digital tracking can be ensured through unique and immutable chemical-based barcodes in rubber products as well," says Haggai Alon, founder, and CEO of Security Matters. He adds, "Together with Continental, we now want to use our marker technology to further improve the transparency of the natural rubber supply chain."

Responsible procurement of raw materials helps to minimize ecological and human rights-related risks. For this reason, the use of sustainable raw materials in tire manufacturing and the commitment to and acceptance of responsibility for their sustainable production and processing have long been a high priority at Continental. At this year's IAA MOBILITY in Munich, for example, the premium tire manufacturer presented its sustainable tire concept Conti GreenConcept to the public for the first time. With this concept study, the company is providing an outlook on current and future technologies for the construction of sustainable passenger tires and once again underscoring its diverse activities with regard to transparent and traceable procurement of natural rubber. Also containing exclusively responsibly sourced natural rubber is Continental's concept tire for the ID. LIFE concept car from Volkswagen, which was also presented at this year's IAA MOBILTY. Based on Continental's EcoContact 6 series tire, this concept tire contains environmentally friendly tire construction technologies whose use in series production is possible in the short term.

Continental has set itself the goal of becoming the most progressive tire company in terms of environmental and social responsibility by 2030. By 2050 at the latest, Continental aims to use 100 percent sustainably produced materials in its tire products and achieve complete climate neutrality along its entire value chain.

The start of the collaboration between Continental and Security Matters was initiated by Continental's own start-up organization co-pace. Its goal is to broker, promote and leverage connections between emerging companies and Continental’s business units. Focus areas of the global team of technology experts at co-pace are advanced materials, autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, data security, next-generation batteries, advanced drive systems or smart cities.