A conversation with Nejan Hatko, CEO of Hatko Sound Barriers

Founder of Hatko Sound Barriers, Nejan Hatko leads the company’s vision of transforming end-of-life tires into high-performance, low-carbon noise barriers. He is driving the international expansion of the company through a local production model.

Traffic noise is one of Europe’s largest environmental pollutants, linked to tens of thousands of premature deaths every year. End-of-life tyres, meanwhile, pile up as one of the road sector’s most stubborn waste streams. For Nejan Hatko, CEO of Hatko Sound Barriers, these are not two problems but one opportunity: a used tyre that would otherwise pollute becomes a high-performance barrier that shields communities from traffic noise. The company calls it “Two Pollutions, One Solution”.

The idea grew out of the Hatko Group’s own evolution. Founded in 1985 as a construction firm, the group moved into rubber and end-of-life tyre recycling in 2014, becoming one of the largest recyclers in its region. By 2019 it recognised that the waste stream it was already handling could address a second problem: the traffic noise created by the very roads that wear tyres out. Hatko Sound Barriers was born, and the group now reaches around 110 countries.

What sets the model apart is that it is deliberately local. “Rather than shipping product across the world, we aim to establish production in each market using that country’s own waste tyres,” Hatko explains.

Turkish waste tyres become barriers in Türkiye; Portuguese waste tyres become barriers in Portugal. Every project supports local recycling, local jobs and the local environment at the same time. Ask him about the biggest challenge facing noise mitigation, and his answer is procurement. Barriers are still chosen on acoustics and price alone, while embodied carbon and end-of-life are largely ignored.

Conventional concrete, steel and acrylic carry a heavy carbon cost: an independent life-cycle assessment of Hatko’s system found embodied-carbon reductions of over 95% versus stainless steel and around 97% versus transparent acrylic, with substantial savings against concrete, aluminium and PVC as well. “If sustainability is not written into procurement, we quietly solve one pollution problem while worsening another,” he warns.

The difference starts with the raw material. Conventional barriers begin with a virgin one: pour concrete, extrude aluminium, cast acrylic, and most of the carbon is spent before the wall even ships. Hatko starts with a problem material. Every square metre of its barrier uses around 50 kilograms of recycled rubber, roughly one truck tyre, reinforced with carbon fibre, with over 90% recycled content and full recyclability back into new barriers at end of life.

The company works end-to-end, from acoustic design and structural engineering through installation and supervision. The approach is proving itself on the ground. In 2024, working with its UK partner, Hatko completed what was recognised as the world’s first carbon-neutral rubber noise barrier installation, at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence in Wales, proof that a barrier made from waste tyres could meet demanding rail standards while setting a new environmental benchmark.

At home, the company is delivering barriers for the İzmir Ring Road Çiğli Interchange with Türkiye’s General Directorate of Highways, and in Portugal, including on Ascendi’s Norte A11 motorway near Porto, it now supplies projects from local production using Portuguese end-of-life tyres.

Looking ahead, Hatko sees procurement finally aligning with climate goals. In the UK, PAS 2080, the BSI standard for carbon management in infrastructure, is pushing the industry to measure whole-life carbon and cut emissions at the earliest stages, where most of a product’s footprint is locked in.

That plays directly to recycled, locally produced materials, and gives road authorities hard numbers for their own ESG reporting. The company is also making barriers multifunctional: its hybrid systems integrate solar panels, so a wall built to block noise can also generate clean energy.

Guided by net-zero and nature-positive targets for 2030 and 2050, he expects noise barriers to be recognised over the next five years as “active environmental infrastructure, not a grey civil-engineering cost”

It is a conversation he intends to continue in Geneva. Having built a partner network across the UK, Portugal, Greece, Sweden, Slovakia, the Western Balkans and Australia, he is looking forward to “the conversations that only happen when policymakers, road authorities and manufacturers are in the same room”, because the decisions that matter, how barriers are specified and whether embodied carbon is scored at all, are made by exactly the people IRF convenes.

His message to delegates is simple: waste and noise do not have to be two separate problems with two separate costs. They can be solved together, and solved locally. “When you specify infrastructure, ask what it is made of and where it goes at the end of its life,” he says.

“If our industry treats embodied carbon as seriously as it treats acoustic performance, the sustainable choice stops being a compromise and becomes the obvious one.”

Hatko Sound Barriers is generously supporting the IRF 2026 Annual Conference, taking place in Geneva from 16 to 18 November 2026. Learn more the conference at https://irfofficial.org/irf-2026-annual-conference.

The Full Interview

Tell us about your organisation — what you do, where you operate and what sets you apart?

Hatko Sound Barriers designs and manufactures acoustic noise barriers for highways and railways, made primarily from recycled end-of-life tyre rubber. We are part of the Hatko Group of Companies, founded in 1985, which moved into rubber and end-of-life tyre recycling in 2014; we launched the noise barrier business in 2019 to turn that expertise into infrastructure. What defines us is our approach, “Two Pollutions, One Solution”: a used tyre that would otherwise pollute becomes a high-performance barrier that shields communities from traffic noise. Crucially, we produce locally — Turkish waste tyres in Türkiye, Portuguese waste tyres in Portugal — and as a group we now reach around 110 countries.

How has your organisation’s mission evolved over the years, and what does it look like today?

The Hatko Group of Companies began in 1985 as a construction firm. In 2014 we moved into rubber and end-of-life tyre recycling, becoming one of the largest recyclers in our region. By 2019 we recognised that the waste stream we were already handling could solve a second problem — the traffic noise created by the very roads that wear tyres out — and Hatko Sound Barriers was born. Our mission today is circular and deliberately local: rather than shipping product across the world, we aim to establish production in each market using that country’s own waste tyres. That way, every project supports local recycling, local jobs and the local environment at the same time.

What is the single biggest challenge facing noise mitigation today, and why does it matter?

The biggest challenge is that noise barriers are still chosen on acoustics and price alone, while their embodied carbon and their end-of-life are largely ignored. Traffic noise is one of Europe’s largest environmental pollutants and is linked to tens of thousands of premature deaths a year, so barriers must be built — but conventional concrete, steel and acrylic carry a heavy carbon cost. An independent life-cycle assessment of our system found embodied-carbon reductions of over 95% versus stainless steel and around 97% versus transparent acrylic, with substantial savings against concrete, aluminium and PVC as well. If sustainability is not written into procurement, we quietly solve one pollution problem while worsening another.

Where do you see the greatest opportunity for progress in the next five years?

The greatest opportunity is procurement finally aligning with climate goals. In the UK, PAS 2080 — the BSI standard for carbon management in infrastructure — is pushing the industry to measure whole-life carbon and to cut emissions at the earliest stages, where most of a product’s footprint is locked in. That plays directly to recycled, locally produced materials like ours, and it gives road authorities hard numbers to strengthen their own ESG reporting. We are also making barriers multifunctional — our hybrid systems integrate solar panels, so a wall built to block noise can also generate clean energy. Guided by our own net-zero and nature-positive targets for 2030 and 2050, I expect noise barriers to be recognised over the next five years as active environmental infrastructure, not a grey civil-engineering cost.

Can you point to a project or deployment that you’re particularly proud of, and why?

In 2024, working with our UK partner, we completed what was recognised as the world’s first carbon-neutral rubber noise barrier installation, at the Global Centre of Rail Excellence in Wales — proof that a barrier made from waste tyres could meet demanding rail standards while setting a new environmental benchmark. At home, we are delivering barriers for the İzmir Ring Road Çiğli Interchange with Türkiye’s General Directorate of Highways, and in Portugal — including on Ascendi’s Norte A11 motorway near Porto — we now supply projects from local production using Portuguese end-of-life tyres. Together they show the local-production model working in practice, keeping tyres out of landfill and noise away from communities.

How does your approach differ from conventional solutions in the market?

Conventional barriers start with a virgin material — pour concrete, extrude aluminium, cast acrylic — and most of the carbon is spent before the wall even ships. We start with a problem material. Every square metre of our barrier uses around 50 kilograms of recycled rubber — roughly one truck tyre — reinforced with carbon fibre, with over 90% recycled content and full recyclability back into new barriers at end of life. And we do not just ship a panel: we produce locally from local waste, and we work end-to-end on acoustic design, structural engineering, installation and supervision. For a road authority, that means noise mitigation that also strengthens its circular-economy and ESG position.

What are you most looking forward to at the IRF 2026 Annual Conference?

I am looking forward to the conversations that only happen when policymakers, road authorities and manufacturers are in the same room in Geneva. Noise and carbon are cross-border issues, and the decisions that matter — how barriers are specified, and whether embodied carbon is scored at all — are made by exactly the people IRF convenes. Having built a partner network across the UK, Portugal, Greece, Sweden, Slovakia, the Western Balkans and Australia over the past few years, I am keen to compare notes with other sponsors on sustainable mobility, and to show that a barrier made from local waste can be a serious, standards-compliant infrastructure choice.

What message do you most want delegates to take away from your participation?

That waste and noise do not have to be two separate problems with two separate costs — they can be solved together, and solved locally. Every barrier we install is a landfill’s worth of tyres kept out of the environment and a community given quieter, healthier surroundings, produced from that country’s own waste. My message to delegates is simple: when you specify infrastructure, ask what it is made of and where it goes at the end of its life. If our industry treats embodied carbon as seriously as it treats acoustic performance, the sustainable choice stops being a compromise and becomes the obvious one.

References and Credits

1. Northern Marmara Motorway (KMO), Türkiye — https://www.hatkosoundbarrier.com/northern-marmara-motorway-sound-barriers/
2. Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE), UK — https://www.hatkosoundbarrier.com/global-centre-of-rail-excellence-gcre/
3. Ascendi Norte A11, Porto, Portugal — https://www.hatkosoundbarrier.com/a11-pk027-730/ or https://www.hatkosoundbarrier.com/a11-pk044-125-guimaraes/
4. Arnavutkoy Municipality, Istanbul, Türkiye – https://www.hatkosoundbarrier.com/arnavutkoy-belediyesi/
Higher-resolution files or additional images and video are available on request.

For further reference, you are welcome to draw on our website (www.hatkosoundbarrier.com )  and our LinkedIn page ( https://www.linkedin.com/company/hatkosoundbarrier/ )

For more details about Hatko Sound Barriers

Website: www.hatkosoundbarrier.com
Two Pollutions, One Solution: hatkosoundbarrier.com/2-pollutions-1-solution
Projects: hatkosoundbarrier.com/projects
Products: hatkosoundbarrier.com/products
Services: hatkosoundbarrier.com/services
IRF feature — world’s first carbon-neutral rubber noise barrier: irfofficial.org
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/hatkosoundbarrier

Photo credits: all project photographs © Hatko Sound Barriers.