With more and more companies searching for ways to be more sustainable and environmentally conscious, looking for regenerative materials to use in manufacturing has become quite commonplace. This includes the tire industry, where a number of manufacturers are attempting to try out some old Soviet methods of reproducing rubber by using a plant that most people within the United States find extremely vexing, the dandelion.
Alongside the University of Aachen, one of the major German tire companies is attempting to reproduce dandelion rubber tires in order to lessen the amount of landfill waste, deforestation, microplastic pollution, as well as the economic shortcomings that come along with most rubber tree cultivation.
Although the idea of “dandelion rubber” seems almost alien or impossible to accomplish, it is actually old technology that was developed by the Soviet Union many years before in their bid to become much more self-sufficient as a nation.
According to a report from the publication DW, they explain how there was a large-scale hunt across Russia, all to find and test over 1,000 different kinds of specimens, until they finally came upon the perfect species of dandelions that were growing in Kazakhstan.
In previous years all across the globe, rubber trees, whose scientific name is Hevea brasiliensis, from Brazil was the most commonly used to produce rubber. But during the Second World War, other huge players such as the United Kingdom, the United States, USSR, and Germany were all utilizing dandelions to manufacture rubber.
But once the war was over and the demand grew, the supply also slowly returned to Brazil, after which synthetic tires were created from petrochemicals, gaining even more popularity.
Helping Bees and the Environment
Presently, one of the biggest tire manufacturers, Continental Tires, have begun producing dandelion rubber trees which they’ve named Taraxagum. The name comes from the genus name of the dandelion species, Taraxacum. In fact, their version of tires for bicycles managed to bag the German Sustainability Award of 2021 for the most sustainable design.
As stated by the head of development for the Taraxagum project, Dr. Carla Recker, “The fact that we came out on top among 54 finalists shows that our Urban Taraxagum bicycle tire is a unique product that contributes to the development of a new, alternative and sustainable supply of raw materials.”
In fact, the DW report even shared that the performance of the dandelion tries proved to be even better than those that were manufactured using natural rubber, which tends to be blended along with synthetic rubber too.
Since dandelion flowers are basically able to grow pretty much anywhere and everywhere, they do not require much to sustain them in the country that wants to grow them, nor from the profile of business agriculture. The Continental Taraxagum research team also speculates that this species could even grow in areas that have polluted land, or even in old industrial parks since they are that uncomplicated.
Moreover, during the rubber extraction process, the only other additive required is hot water, whereas with the Hevea plant, it needs the use of organic solvents which are actually a pollution threat, especially when they are not properly disposed.
Dandelions are also found to be critical in the early-season food supply for the bees that are already dwindling in number, as well as act as a majorly nutritious food for people, as they can be made into coffee.
Adults might not consider them that special but ask any kid to pick a dandelion and blow on its seeds, and they can find so much joy in the simple act. And now that there’s a chance that they can be more sustainable and better for the environment, there’s so much more to consider, as well as admitting that they’re actually much more essential than anyone might have first believed.
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