Case Study

Green Tyres Green Tyres is a Small & Medium Enterprise (SME) operating in the tyre recycling industry. The company was founded in 2012 with a single operation facility processing 5 tons of tyres per day. Currently, the company employs 75 staff, 60 of them are technicians and engineers. The company currently operates 5 facilities across 4 countries in the Middle East. The company's revenues gradually grew and exceeded 15 million USD in 2019, and net income reaching 3 million USD. Mr. Sameh, the founder of Green Tyres described his vision when he first started the company as "I wanted to benefit from a valuable resource that is thrown away to pollute our environment. We are surrounded by millions of used tyres that are either buried, burnt or sunk in the ocean". He was only 23 when he started the company that specialises in collecting, and recycling of used tyres to produce several valuable outputs such as: 1. Carbon Black Rubber: which is used in sports arenas, coating of equipment, flooring of children playgrounds, and in civil engineering projects such as constructions and road development; 2. Steel Wires: which are compressed, melted, and re-used as input raw material in the steel industry; 3 3. Industrial Oils: which are used as energy source in cement and steel factories to heat production ovens, and are also refined and used as machinery lubricant, raw material in plastic and paint products. Used tyres are among the largest and most problematic sources of waste today, due to their large volumes, their short durability, and the components in the tyre that are ecologically problematic. The same characteristics which make old tyres a waste problem also make them one of the most recyclable waste materials. As the companys operations are expanding, the need to innovatively manage sustainability becomes a necessity. Complying with different universal and local regulations is not an elective choice. With expansion comes many challenges; some are internal and others are external. The founder is confident that the company will continue to grow, and the recycling industry is yet to witness new entrants.

Question 1: Discuss how Green Tyres products, services and operations are linked to environmental sustainability? How does the company strive to create a "winwin" scenario for the business, the society, and the environment (3 Ps) in terms of the positive and negative impacts that Green Tyres generates/minimizes?

Question 2: Justify the importance of sustainability management tools to modern organisations such as Green Tyres? In your opinion, which of those tools is/are appropriate to be used by the company and why? What are the obstacles (internal and/or external) that Green Tyres could face in implementing sustainability management? Teams are encouraged to use the e-library resources as well as web resources to read about the obstacles, challenges, and success factors of similar SMEs in the recycling industry.