January 24, 2025 [Biofuels International]- The International Aviation Group (IAG) has invested in Wastefront, a leading tyre-to-fuel company, who plan to turn used tyres into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
The SAF will be made by converting waste tyres into tyre derived oil, which is then refined into road fuels and SAF.
This deal is another step forward for IAG in its commitment to SAF and enables Wastefront to begin construction on its fully circular tyre-to-fuel facility in the Port of Sunderland.
The plant will begin operations in 2026 and once fully operational the following year, will process up to 10 million waste tyres annually.
The UK currently generates around 50 million end-of-life tyres each year, with most of them currently exported to countries such as India where they are incinerated in cement plants or disposed of in landfills.
Facilities like Wastefront’s planned Sunderland plant are critical to meeting the UK’s SAF mandate, which came into effect on 1 January, requiring at least 10% of all jet fuel used in flights departing the UK to come from sustainable feedstocks by 2030, rising to 22% by 2040.
Jonathon Counsell, IAG’s Group sustainability officer, said: “We’re proud to support innovators like Wastefront, who are finding new forms of feedstocks to produce advanced fuels. However, as global demand for SAF grows, it’s crucial to expand production in the UK.
“The recent Government mandate will help reduce aviation’s overall carbon impact, but airlines need confidence that the planned revenue certainty mechanism will support UK businesses in developing SAF technology without further increasing the cost base for UK airlines.”
Vianney Vales, CEO of Wastefront, said: “At Wastefront, our mission is to turn a problematic waste stream into a highly valuable resource. We can create SAF at an extremely competitive cost with a very low environmental footprint – capable of reducing carbon emissions in the production process by up to 80% compared to traditional jet fuels. This investment is a testament to the potential of Wastefront’s technology in tackling waste and air pollution.”
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