Russian dandelions could replace rubber tapped from tropical forests as the prime supply for tyre makers within the next ten years.

Continental has just opened a new factory in Germany where it will base its research centre looking to find alternatives to rubber which has to be extracted from tropical forests.

It has committed more than £30 million to its eco programme and its scientists, chemists and production experts have been working on dandelion as an alternative for some years. The first winter tyre featuring a tread made from pure dandelion rubber was unveiled in 2014 and the first truck tyre made from Taraxagum, derived from the botanical name for dandelion ‘Taraxacum’, followed in 2016.

Now Continental is looking at using it on a far wider basis and says that dandelion is a renewable crop and harvesting it is far less destructive than using rubber trees.

At the opening of the factory in Anklam, Nikolai Setzer, member of the Executive Board of Continental AG and head of the Tyre division, said: “We are proud to open this lighthouse project today. We are the first tyre manufacturer in the world to invest such a significant amount in industrialising dandelion rubber. We see Russian dandelions as an important alternative and complementary to conventional natural rubber, allowing us to meet the rising global demand in an environmentally compatible and reliable way.”

Dirk Prüfer, Professor of Plant Biotechnology at the University of Munster, said the project is scientifically viable, adding: “We have been working to understand the molecular basis of the rubber biosynthesis in the dandelion plant for many years. This biological understanding has now brought industrial use within reach. With the new test laboratory, Continental has broken new ground that makes this transfer concept highly viable.”