English Abstract

gTowards A Sustainable Societyh Approaches to the Goal of Achieving g100% Sustainable Materialsh

Masahiro HOJO *1
Yasuo FUKUSHIMA *2
Takayuki SATO *3
Norie WATANABE *4
Yoichi OZAWA *5
*1:Manager, Materials Development Department, Bridgestone Corp., Kodaira-Shi, Tokyo, Japan
*2:Manager, Research Department 3 Central Research, Bridgestone Corp.
*3:Reinforcement Development Department Fellow (Manager), Bridgestone Corp.
*4:Manager, NR R&D Department Central Research, Bridgestone Corp.
*5:Fellow (General Manager), Tire Materials Development Division I and Central Research, Bridgestone Corp.
Nippon Gomu Kyokaishi,(2013),86(6),169-175 General Review in Japanese

For decoupling natural resource use and environment impacts from economic growth, tire industry will develop and utilize sustainable technologies to value natural resources, thinking not only environment but also supply and business for realization of the “Green Economy”. In this effort, just replacing tire raw materials derived from fossil resources with ones from renewable resources is not sufficient. Rather, it is more important to assess sustainability of our resources throughout their life cycles.
In this report, we describe specific initiatives such as guayule and Russian dandelion as additional natural rubber species, a new cellulosic fibers and polymers from biomass toward the development of 100% sustainable materials, which is Bridgestone Group's long-term environmental vision for the 2050 and beyond.

Keywords: Decoupling, Sustainable Material, Guayule, Russian Dandelion, Cellulosic Fiber, Biomass