Xtyre Global Turning Waste Into Worth

Innovative recycled rubber pallets are durable, trackable, and sustainable solutions that transform waste into value

Greenchain patented recycled rubber pallets made from end-of-life recycled tires are a long-lasting, cost-effective alternative to wood and plastic pallets.

A product of South Africa Xtyre Global, the pallets are the fulfillment of entrepreneur Oscar Filen’s mission to turn waste into value, especially rubber waste, which Filen considers a resource not waste.  The company’s first commercial shipment of pallets went to market earlier this year culminating a twelve-year development process and an exhausting fourteen-month wait for patent approvals.

“The toughest part has been waiting 14 months for provisional and now final patents to be lodged. My soul, the life of an entrepreneur,” Xtyre Global Director Oscar Felin said.

A self-described entrepreneur and innovator, Filen started making mat products from recycled tire rubber more than 37 years ago, under his flagship Mat Marketing company. From these mat making roots, Xtyre Global was formed with a focus on becoming a world leader in recycled rubber, recycled rubber products and composites.

Today, the company makes over 300 recycled rubber products, including pallets, under the Xtyre Global banner. Heavy-duty commercial matting remains a cornerstone of the business.

Xtyre’s new Greenchain recycled rubber pallets made from recycled passenger, truck or mining tires with a reinforced endoskeleton, are built to handle extreme loads, ranging from 3 tons to an impressive 15 tons. The binder contains organic biocides and an anti-bacterial coating applied.

Xtyre’s pallets are more shock-absorbent and less vulnerable to adverse weather, and are more durable than wooden and plastic pallets.

“Our recycled rubber pallets last 20-30 times longer than wood,” Filen said. Backed by a full Lifecycle Assessment (LCA), interest in the pallets globally has been exceptional,” he said.

One Xtyre heavy-duty rubber pallet uses crumb rubber produced from thirty-eight typical passenger tires and saves up to four cubic meters of landfill waste.

Xtyre sources crumb rubber locally produced by tire recyclers who specialize in processing whole end-of-life tires. Working with partner companies like Genan, Xtyre has its crumb rubber feedstock manufactured and refined to its specification.

“This is important in maintaining the quality and consistency of the pallets and all our products as different products use different grades and formulations,” Filen said.
The company also uses graded buffing rubber, a waste product from the retreading industry, in many of its formulations.

With temperature tolerances of -40 and plus 160 degrees, the pallets have drawn strong interest from refrigerated warehouses or distribution centers.

The Xtyre pallets are ideal for housing spare motors and other heavy replacement parts, Filen said. Whereas wooden pallets can collapse if they are supporting too much weight, the Xtyre pallets can support the weight of heavy spares without collapsing, including large motors, gearboxes and hydraulic equipment, Filen explained.

Xtyre’s pallet range includes trackable smart pallets, with tracking devices that provide businesses with live GPS (Global Positioning System) tracking of individual pallets as they are being transported.

To allow for placement and housing of the tracking device, Xtrye offers a molded cavity option in the center block or stringer of the pallet.

The company also customizes pallets to suit customer needs, for example, inserting a chip into the pallet to determine whether a product was removed. The chip uses radio-frequency identification (RFID) encoded in the item’s RFID tag or smart label to track the number of items placed on the pallet at all times. If an item is taken off the pallet, it updates the company or respective manager.

“Location tracking incorporated into the pallets takes warehouse efficiencies to the next level,” Filen said.

The technology can be used in transporting products as well as for auditing purposes throughout the supply chain, offering customers the ability to improve inventory management and reduce costs, while also driving greater revenues.

Xtyre’s production plant uses a semi-automated, remotely controlled system to manufacture the pallets and other recycled rubber products, assuring consistent product quality in every pallet, improving efficiency and lowering costs.

In the manufacturing process, crumb rubber is blended with polymer compounds and cured in molds from Salvadori Recycling Equipment. The finished pallets are fully recyclable and remoldable, further enhancing their environmental benefit, Filen said.

Along with the pallets, Xtyre manufactures safety products from recycled rubber, such as safety barriers, stop blocks, railway ties  for underground operations and cable covers.

To meet demand, the company set up licensed manufacturing sites in South Africa and Kuwait, where car, truck, mining or other tires can be taken and processed to produce recycled rubber feedstock  used in manufacturing Xtyre products.  Xtyre operates on a decentralized manufacturing model to use scrap tires near their source and contribute to regional economies.

In addition, Xtyre’s closed loop green tag distribution system assures that all pallets go back to distribution centers for repurposing or recycling.

Recent warehouse trials of Xtyre’s Greenchain recycled rubber pallets conducted at Dunlop Sumitomo demonstrated the versatility of Xtyre’s bolt-together system. The patented modular decking system allows users to customize pallets to their needs.  Legs bolt on to the base frame, decking planks run across the top and all components are interchangeable.

“In the warehouse trial, we found we could remove decking planks from stringers and get a cost-effective rugged pallet that enhanced tire stock movement,” Filen said.

The trial also demonstrated that the modular design of the pallets enables local entrepreneurs to provide pallet services at minimal setup costs.

The recycled rubber pallets smooth surface and heavy-duty construction eliminated nails from scratching new tires loaded on the pallets during the trail, while their heavy-duty construction eliminated the need to replace pallets every few month

Among other environmental benefits, one recycled rubber pallet saves ten trees and 700 meters of reforestation, the company said, noting that, utilizing rubber pallets, significantly reduces indigenous deforestation, preserving biodiversity and contributing to climate change goals.

To assess the carbon footprint of its rubber pallets, Xtyre conducted a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the U.S.  The results showed that Xtyre’s rubber pallets exhibit a 56 percent lower carbon footprint compared to wooden pallets and an impressive 89 percent lower carbon footprint compared to plastic pallets throughout their lifecycle.

Given these environmental attributes, Filen is confident that carbon credits will become a realized value in the near future.

Currently, Xtyre is in the process of compiling a methodology to allow the difference in price of wooden pallets and rubber pallets to be claimed as a CSR/ESG spend under environmental parameters.

With the commercial launch of the Greenchain pallets and his long-standing belief that “old tires are a resource not a waste” Filen remains excited about rubber and is looking toward his next innovation.

“I talk rubber everyday with people around the world. I see everyday products and think “that could be rubber,” Filen said.

But, he cautions, you have to balance innovation and business growth. “I won’t spend more than 20 percent of my time on innovation. You lose sight of your business.  I’ve made that mistake,” Filen said.

So far, it’s that balance of passion and discipline that keeps Xtyre at the forefront of recycled rubber product innovations.

© Scrap Tire News, May 2025