Every Drop Counts: Continental Tires Saves Nearly 200 Million Liters of Water
- UN World Water Day on March 22 highlights the most important resource for all life
- Tires group sector reduces water withdrawal per ton of product by more than ten percent since 2020, for example by using membranes and reverse osmosis
- Dr. Bernhard Trilken, Head of Manufacturing and Logistics at Continental Tires: "We monitor our water use systematically and holistically, while consistently using the latest technologies to reduce, reuse and recycle"
- Non-profit organization CDP honors Continental for climate change mitigation and water management, acknowledging proactive commitment to protecting the environment
Hanover, Germany, March 20, 2025. Water is the most important resource for all life. The United Nations World Water Day on March 22 has been reminding us of this since 1992. Water consumption is constantly increasing worldwide - especially in the production of consumer goods. For decades, Continental Tires has been committed to sustainable water management along the entire value chain. After all, in tire manufacturing, water is used in various states for heating, cooling and cleaning, as well as for the daily needs of employees. Since 2020, Continental has reduced its water withdrawal per ton of product at all locations by more than ten percent, which corresponds to a saving of around 197 million liters of water - enough to fill 79 Olympic-size swimming pools. This has been achieved through systematic and controlled measures to use water more efficiently and to treat and reuse wastewater. Thanks to innovative filtration and membrane technologies, the tire manufacturer already reuses about 90 percent of its wastewater after treatment.
"We monitor our water use systematically and holistically, while consistently using the latest technologies to reduce, reuse and recycle," says Dr. Bernhard Trilken, Head of Manufacturing and Logistics at Continental Tires.
This commitment is paying off. Since 2020, Continental Tires has used significantly less water per ton of tires produced than the industry average. This is the result of internal benchmarking with other leading tire manufacturers worldwide, all members of the Tire Industry Project of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. "We want to continuously reduce our water withdrawal. This applies in particular to regions with increased water risk. With a reduction of more than 10 percent in the last four years, we have come a big step closer to our ambition," says Trilken.
As early as 1993, Continental officially incorporated environmental protection into its vision, values and corporate identity. For more than 30 years, the company has systematically recorded the water consumption of its manufacturing plants and products and consistently implemented a series of measures to continuously reduce water withdrawal. One example is the conversion of its production facilities from water-based to air-based cooling systems in 1996. Through training and internal campaigns such as the "Sustainable Water Initiative in Manufacturing" (SWIM), Continental Tires is raising awareness among employees in production-related departments and administration about how they can help reduce water withdrawals since 2021. The company systematically invests in state-of-the-art technologies to further minimize water consumption.
Innovative filtration and membrane technologies for water recycling
Continental relies on intelligent solutions along the entire value chain to improve water quality. One of these technologies is based on membrane pores that are produced using the latest materials science and advanced treatment technologies. These precision-engineered membrane pores are extremely effective against contaminants and allow water to be efficiently reused in a wide range of wastewater streams. As a result, approximately 90 percent of process wastewater can be reused after treatment.
Efficient steam treatment through reverse osmosis technologies
To treat steam, Continental uses reverse osmosis technology, in which water is forced at high pressure through a semi-permeable membrane to remove impurities. This minimizes the volume of wastewater and improves the efficiency of softening and desalination systems that remove minerals such as calcium and magnesium from the water to prevent limescale deposits, extending the service life of facilities. Technical measures include replacing inefficient water filters, minimizing backwashing and reusing steam condensate.
Sustainability ambitions for all production locations
Water withdrawal is reduced by recycling cooling water and steam, and by optimizing the water circuits in the compounding and extrusion processes that Continental uses to produce its tires. An online monitoring system that tracks and records total water withdrawal at all of Continental's tire production sites worldwide improves operational efficiency by identifying and preventing water losses. "Our consumption monitoring system documents the water flows at various inlet and outlet points. If we detect that the reading for a particular process exceeds the specified limit, the system immediately sounds an alarm," says Henning Mühlenstedt, Head of Future Technologies and Sustainable Infrastructure at Continental Tires. These measures are supported by comprehensive risk assessments and water audits at all production sites worldwide. This enables targeted improvements and contributes significantly to water conservation and reuse.
Every drop counts: rainwater collection and water-efficient installations
Continental also reduces regular water withdrawals at its production sites by reusing wastewater, collecting rainwater, reducing consumption and installing water-saving flushing systems and touchless faucets on wash basins. These measures also help to conserve water resources.
Continental honored for climate change mitigation and water management
With its global sustainability projects, Continental is actively taking responsibility for environmental protection and its carbon footprint. This has been confirmed for the seventh year in a row by the international non-profit organization CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project). CDP has honored Continental with the so-called "Leadership" status A- in the area of climate protection for the year 2024. In the area of water protection, Continental received a B rating. This shows that the company is also making significant progress in implementing measures for the sustainable use and protection of water resources. Continental has been participating in this important environmental ranking for twelve years.
Laura Averbeck
Communications Manager Sustainability
Continental Tires
Henry Schniewind
Head of External Communications
Continental Tires