At the three Italian rounds of the 2023 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, riders left 150kg of used tyres and inner tubes at the Vittoria Expo Area for recycling. These will be used to make the granules for the creation of surfaces for playgrounds and sports tracks.
Italian tyre manufacturer Vittoria, a partner of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) since 2021, launched its recycling programme in November last year, initially for bicycle shops across Italy. Vittoria offers the services of esosport, a specialist in the collection and recycling of waste in the sport industry, which carries out the transformation process at its recycling plant in Tolentino.
Following the success of the Vittoria Recycling programme, which nearly 350 shops across Italy have already joined, it was decided to extend the service to the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup.
Vittoria Group President and CEO Stijn Vriends, said the Re-cycling Programme aimed to increase the sustainability of its products, stating that more than 4 million bicycle tyres and inner tubes end up in Italy’s general waste collection every year. The aim is to extend the programme to the whole of Europe and even further afield in the future.
“We have to work hard to create real circularity in the bicycle industry,” he said. “With the Vittoria Re-cycling programme, we are taking a first important step.”
Vittoria also has a tyre collection point at its Vittoria Bike Park, opened last year at its headquarters in Brembate, near Milan, which features bike trails for all abilities as well as an innovation centre.
The Vittoria Recycling Programme is part of the company’s wider efforts in favour of the environment. The Vittoria Group has established an ESG (Environmental, social and governance) team, and its long-term sustainability goals include cutting greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
UCI President David Lappartient applauded Vittoria’s initiative: “Cycling is a fantastic tool in the face of certain environmental challenges and we must work to ensure that our sport leads the way in this domain. I am delighted that our partner Vittoria is taking concrete action that is also in line with the ambitious sustainability objectives outlined in the UCI’s Agenda 2030.”