Concern about the release of eco-toxic zinc species from rubbers into the environment leads to an ever increasing interest in potential substitutes. In previous work, alternative metal oxides and zinc compounds as activators for sulphur vulcanisation have been studied thoroughly. At present no viable alternative has been found to eliminate ZnO completely from rubber compounds without significantly jeopardizing processing as well as performance characteristics. The present article reports about the application of a new activator for sulphur vulcanisation. This new activator is developed based on the assumption that an I increase in the availability of Zn2+-ions could lead to a considerable reduction of ZnO in rubber compounds. Montmorillonite clay was used as carrier material and loaded with Zn2+-ions via an ion-exchange process. The zinc content on this ZnClay, determined with XRF measurements, is around 5 wt %. Preliminary results with s-SBR rubber clearly demonstrate that this ZnClay can substitute conventional ZnO, retaining the curing and physical properties of the rubber products but significantly reducing the environmental impact. A reduction of the zinc concentration with a factor 10 to 20 can be realised.