Joint Venture Between Michelin And Blue Circle

In the UK, Michelin and Blue Circle Industries (BCI) have signed a Memorandum of Association to form a joint venture company, called Sapphire Energy Recovery, which will prepare scrap tyres for burning in BCI’s cement kilns. The new company, which will be a stand-alone organisation, is expected to begin operations early next year and will have twenty-five employees, providing a sorting and preparation service, including shredding, prior to the scrap tyres being transferred to the cement kilns. Sapphire Energy Recovery will be based at BCI’s Cauldon works in Staffordshire and BCI will have the majority stake in the company.

The total investment in the joint venture will be in excess of one million Pounds and it is expected that operations will begin early next year. BCI has been burning tyres at Cauldon for more than five years and hopes to use tyres at four other sites: Cookstown, Northern Ireland; Dunbar, East Lothian; Hope, Derbyshire and Westbury, Wiltshire. Blue Circle’s UK Operations Director, Rob Davies, said that, within five years, the company hopes to be replacing 200,000 tonnes of coal with scrap tyres, thus reducing energy costs by six million Pounds a year.

Should this happen, it would account for just under half of the UK’s annual scrap tyre arisings of 467,650 tonnes. Michelin says that its main reason for getting involved is prompted by increasing demand from customers to help them dispose of scrap tyres legally and responsibly. Commercial Director Thierry Martin described the jv as “an exciting addition to our service portfolio”.