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Success stories from NRW

Ralf Bohle GmbH – Rolling Innovations

If the company name doesn't immediately mean anything to you: most readers should know Schwalbe “ Schwalbe ”, one might say, is probably the best-known brand in Germany for bicycle tires and tubes. Ralf Bohle GmbH has been concerned with sustainability for several decades, and recycling is playing an increasingly central role.

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The challenge

To ensure that cyclists have to deal with the tires and tubes of their bicycles as little as possible, Ralf Bohle GmbH in Reichshof in the Oberberg district deals with them particularly intensively. The “ Schwalbe ” brand was born there in 1973, and since then the company has invested a lot of money, time and creativity in the constant development of bicycle tires and tubes. Because the requirements are diverse - and vary depending on the type of bike: A quality tire has to run for a long time, be fast, offer good grip, and withstand rain, sun, heat and cold. It depends on the right rubber mixture; other materials include nylon fabric and, for many tires, wire. This mix poses a challenge for possible recycling.

Nevertheless, the company started its first project in 1993: It delivered used tires to a processing company that turned them into rubber mats. Downcycling, after all. Ten years later the project ended because it was too complex technically, energetically and logistically. However, the company continued to research; Ralf Bohle GmbH was serious about sustainability and was convinced that more was possible. For example, when it comes to industrial carbon black, which is a component of almost every black tire rubber compound. With 25 million tires sold per year and not much fewer tubes, there would be a significant positive effect in terms of resource conservation and environmental protection if old tires could be processed into new tires and no industrial carbon black could be used.

Commissioned by:

  • Photos: Ralf Bohle GmbH
  • Text: Lothar Schmitz, business journalist Bonn
  • Publication: August 2023

Steffen Jüngst, PR manager

“We have established a real circular economy for this product”

The innovation

The experts at Schwalbe continued to research. Tube recycling started in 2015 - since then, every new Schwalbe standard tube has been made from 20 percent old tubes. 8.5 million tubes could be recycled in this way between 2015 and 2022. In 2021, the company achieved second prize with its hose recycling in the “Going Circular” competition, which takes place annually under the patronage of the North Rhine-Westphalia Ministry for Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy.

The next big milestone will come in 2022: an innovative tire recycling process. The pilot project was made possible through collaboration with the Cologne University of Technology and a recycling company from Saarland. While used tires were previously mostly burned, they can now be shredded in four stages and separated into rubber granules, textile fibers and steel. The rubber granules go into a special reactor, a kind of oven. Gas comes out, which in turn supplies the system with electricity; Oil, which is used by industry, for example in textile fibers, replacing crude oil; and pyrolysis coke. This is further processed into a material that is used in new Schwalbe products and replaces industrial carbon black. In the summer of 2023, Schwalbe will be presenting a tire for the first time that is completely free of industrial carbon black. “We have established a real circular economy for this product,” says Steffen Jüngst, public relations manager at Ralf Bohle GmbH.

This recycling is also made possible by a specially initiated return system, for which around 1,600 of the over 6,000 specialist dealers across Germany were recruited within nine months. Thanks to intensive educational work in specialist retailers and among end customers, the number is constantly increasing.

More about Schwalbe
8.500.000
recycled tires
193
employees
1.600
Specialist dealers

The NRW effect

Innovations like the one described are usually based on collaborations.
Scientific institutions in particular play an important role. Schwalbe is therefore very grateful for its proximity to important research institutions. “ We have a long-standing cooperation and research partnership with the Cologne University of Technology, for example,” reports Jüngst. A current employee was also involved in the tire recycling project, who to this day deals intensively with the topic in his master's thesis and subsequent dissertation at the TH Cologne. At the same time, the company values ​​North Rhine-Westphalia as a recruiting base. “We are growing continuously and will continue to need well-trained specialists in the future, which we can almost always find in North Rhine-Westphalia.”

The need for research collaboration will not go away. “We have achieved a milestone with the first tire model without industrial carbon black, and more are to follow,” emphasizes Jüngst. The company would also like to increase the proportion of used hoses in hose production by 20 percent.

This success story of an innovative transformation was published in August 2023. There will be no updates or checks of the information afterwards.

“We are growing continuously and will continue to need well-trained specialists in the future, which we can almost always find in North Rhine-Westphalia.”

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More on the topic of mobility

Transformation through innovation

Background to the publication series

The publication series “Transformation through Innovation” is intended to illustrate how companies in North Rhine-Westphalia have been able to write successful innovation stories thanks to the framework conditions created by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

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