Founding Partner of Extreme E racing series, Continental Tyres has opened a sustainably built basketball court in Germany’s Linden-Süd district.
The innovative new build has been constructed using 200 recycled racing tyres from the first season of the Extreme E electric racing series, which Continental supports as a main sponsor.
Continental, in November last year had donated 400m2 of recycled rubber to form paving stones for the court.
Since its inaugural season in 2021, sustainability has been a core area of focus for Extreme E, actioned through examples such as electrification, legacy programmes, and a scientific committee. Being able to give new life to these old racing tyres is a further step in this direction. Extreme E said this move demonstrates the significance of a major manufacturer adapting to match a purpose-driven mission.
In its second year of partnership, Continental launched its most sustainable tyre ever, the second generation of the Extreme E CrossContact.
The application of old PET bottles, making up 100% of the tyre carcass, and a new silica material created from rice husks, comes ahead of the plans to integrate the new technology into volume production of various Continental premium tyres later this year.
“Circularity – in this case the reuse and continued use of tyres – is an important area, and one in which Continental is working hard,” said Christian Kötz, member of the executive board at Continental.
The court was created as part of a collaboration between the city of Hanover, property construction company Hanova, the BasKIDball project, the VIA Linden, and Serve the City Hannover associations and the SV Linden 07 club, on whose premises the half-court has been built.
Elastomer processing company REGUPOL handled the transformation of the tyres into rubber paving blocks, and the court was assembled by Hanover-based company Kretschmer.
The third season of Extreme E will commence on March 11 in Saudi Arabia.