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February 10, 2023
Continental Tyres, Founding Partner of electric off-road racing series, Extreme E, is turning recycled racing tyres into sustainble basketball courts. Under the “Turning racing tyres into living space”, the first court opened in the Linden-Süd district of Hanover, Germany for youth to have a lively place to play, burn off energy and train. Built from 200 recycled tyres, the new space builds on the racing series’ core value of sustainability and signifes a “major manufacturer adapting to match a purpose driven mission”.
Ali Russell, Chief Marketing Officer at Extreme E, explains that this new initiative pushes the boundaries of the possibility of re-purposing resources to benefit many people. “Over the past two Extreme E season campaigns, it has become clear that both creative thinking and a great deal of ingenuity is required to deliver the solutions necessary to combat the climate crisis. This fantastic initiative certainly achieves that.”
The tyres are seen as the “most sustainable tyre ever,” made of old PET (polyethylene terephthalate – a type of resin and a form of polyester) bottles and a new silica material created from rice husks, a waste product from agriculture. The reuse of tyres has been termed ‘circularity’ and something that Continental will continue in future projects.
Extreme E was born in response to the climate crisis. With 30% of the planet’s CO2 emissions coming from transport, it intends to showcase the performance of electric vehicles, highlight remote environments under threat of climate change issues and encourage people to take positive action to protect our planet’s future.
“These tyres raced in Saudi Arabia, Greenland and Senegal. Now, in the form of a basketball court, they are helping to bring young people together and get them excited about sport,” said Christian Kötz, Member of the Executive Board Tires at Continental.
The sporting and social space was a collaboration between the city of Hanover, property construction company Hanova, the BasKIDball project, the VIA Linden, and Serve the City Hannover associations and the SV Linden 07 club, on whose premises the half-court has been built. Elastomer processing company REGUPOL handled the transformation of the tyres into rubber paving blocks and the court was assembled by Hanover-based company Kretschmer.
With the first few passes on the court, Kötz and Hanover Mayor, Belit Onay, handed it over to the kids from the BasKIDball project, a Germany-wide initiative that aims to use sport to break through barriers and shine the spotlight on the social side of group participation.
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