energies Review A Review on Management of End of Life Tires (ELTs) and Alternative Uses of Textile Fibers Panagiotis Grammelis 1 , Nikolaos Margaritis 1 , Petros Dallas 1 , Dimitrios Rakopoulos 1, * and Georgios Mavrias 2   Citation: Grammelis, P.; Margaritis, N.; Dallas, P.; Rakopoulos, D.; Mavrias, G. A review on Management of End of Life Tires (ELTs) and Alternative Uses of Textile Fibers. Energies 2021, 14, 571. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14030571 Received: 22 December 2020 Accepted: 20 January 2021 Published: 22 January 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH)/Chemical Process & Energy Resources Institute (CPERI), 4th km Ptolemais—Mpodosakeiou Hospital (Region of Kouri), 502 00 Ptolemais, Greece; grammelis@certh.gr (P.G.); n.margaritis@certh.gr (N.M.);dallas@certh.gr (P.D.) 2 ECOELASTIKA SA, Ecological Tire Management, 15125 Athens, Greece; gmavrias@ecoelastika.gr * Correspondence: rakopoulos@certh.gr Abstract: Annually, approximately 3 billion tires are commercially transacted worldwide each year and an equivalent amount is disposed of by the end of their life. Despite the increase in the life of tires and the global economic and pandemic crisis, the number of discarded tires is going to rise further due to the increasing demand for vehicles worldwide (approximately 5 billion tires by the end of 2030). The obsolete methods of tire disposal, including landfill, burning, etc., are a responsible for environmental issues (harmful substances production, air and soil pollution) and for the transmission of various diseases. Nowadays, approximately 70% of the total tires at the end of their life (ELTs) is recovered. The largest percentage of the recovered ELTs is intended for energy production or recovery as a fuel in cement industries or can be used for the production of various materials. A significant amount (approximately 95%) of the discarded ELTs can be reused. The products from the processing of ELTs can be fragments of different sizes and types, including: Trimmed rubber (70% by weight), steel wire (5–30% by weight), and fluff or textile fibers (up to 15% by weight). From the aforementioned materials, rubber and steel wires are mainly recovered and used for numerous applications. However, current ways of utilizing these materials will have to adapt or change in the near future, in order to comply with stricter regulations. The purpose of the current study is to sufficiently review recent progress on the management of ELTs, focusing on alternative uses of textile fibers such as additive for sound absorbing materials, bituminous conglomerates, concrete production, plastic materials, soil reinforcement, etc. Keywords: end of life tires; energy recovery; material recycling; rubber; textile fibers 1. Introduction The constant increase of waste around the world is one of the most important issues that modern society is called to face, as they are connected to global pollution. In the United States, for more than 20 years, the rate of rubber waste production approximately 290 million/year [1]. Disposal of these high numbers of waste was an issue as they are non-biodegradable and non-condensing products, which remain on the landfills. Thus, nearly 2 billion tires were stored in the United States. The long-term storage of tires, without proper management, can lead to fire, toxic, and health hazards [2,3]. Initially, many countries have chosen landfill disposal as an option for managing old tires. However, this option was soon abandoned as tires occupy a huge volume in landfills and increase the risk of ignition. The impermeability of landfills is not always ensured, which means that hazardous substances generated during the decomposition of tires can penetrate the ground and affect the surrounding area. In this manner, they may pollute the water and the soil and can have harmful effects on the living organisms. Apart from the aforementioned, the burial of the tires was abandoned as these materials can be reused. Energies 2021, 14, 571. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14030571 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies