News and feature articles relating to recycling, including collection, of end of life tyres.
Two 11-year old girls were arrested on suspicion of starting a fire which destroyed a warehouse storing shredded tyres ready to be recycled. The warehouse, owned by Joliet, Illinois-based tyre recycler Tire Grinder Transporters, was ablaze for five hours before firefighters brought it under control.
According to Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), the publication of a new Quality Protocol (QP) and certification scheme will help to drive the market for rubber crumb and shred derived from used tyres. Mervyn Jones, joint project executive and head of manufacturing at WRAP told Tyres & Accessories the Quality Protocol will assure material quality and encourage sector growth. However, the practical basis for this expansion is not clear and there are question marks over how much this will cost businesses and ultimately end users. Transport Research Laboratory will operate the tyres QP certification process.
Mervyn Jones believes this growth will be driven by the introduction of a new voluntary QP and certification scheme planned for November 2009, by the Waste Protocols project – a joint WRAP and Environment Agency initiative. The QP follows on from a publicly available specification document (PAS 107) published in 2007. Developed by WRAP and the British Standards Institute (BSI), PAS 107 helps manufacturers of tyre-derived rubber crumb and shred to ensure their products adhere to specified quality standards.
The Eastern Daily Press describes it as "infamous", but despite its local notoriety days may be numbered for the tyre mountain on the Tattersett Business Park, near Fakenham. The newspaper reports that work is "underway" towards a planning application for the creation of a £1 million re-cycling facility.
Tyre recovery and recycling specialists Murfitts industries has suffered a fire at its Littleport, Cambridgeshire site. Managing director Barry Stocker told Tyres & Accessories/tyrepress.com that it is too early to say how much damage has been done, but he did confirm that there is both structural and stock loss. Nevertheless, the company is continuing to take in tyres at other sites. According to local firefighers, a diesel fuel tank and gas cylinders exploded during the fire and 50 firefighters tackled flames from 200 tonnes of tyre shred on fire at the site. Local news reports suggest two buildings next to the tyre factory have been destroyed by the fire.
Starting with the European Grand Prix, Bridgestone has introduced new recyclable tin weights into its Formula One and GP2 Series wheel and tyre balancing process. The use of tin as balance weights, comments Bridgestone, is believed to have a lower environmental impact than the previously utilised lead weights. Over the course of a season the company uses almost a tonne of wheel balance weights.
Sapphire Energy Recovery, the tyre recovery and waste processing company owned by Lafarge Cement, has gained BSI certification for three management system standards: quality, environment and health and safety. Certificates for ISO 9001 (for quality management), ISO 14001 (for environmental compliance) and OHSAS 18001 (for health and safety) were handed out to members of the Sapphire team by BSI representative Colin Rushmere at a recent ceremony held to mark the occasion at Lafarge Cement’s head office in Solihull.
Sapphire Energy Recovery is opening a new tyre chipping facility at Western Tyres' Avonmouth headquarters in the South West. The business is leasing land at the Western Tyres facility in order to provide a secure outlet for used tyres for its customers across the South West.
A new facility owned by the Kazakhstan Rubber Recycling company has become the Central Asian country’s first end of life tyre recycling plant to enter operation. The facility, located in the capital city of Astana, is equipped with machinery built by Germany’s MeWa Recycling Maschinen und Anlagenbau and holds a capacity of around 11,000 car and truck tyres per annum.
CBp Carbon Industries has released a press statement in response to the August 9 statement published by Fader Technologies LLC. The company states it is "saddened" that it must response to this release, but notes it has done so in order to "correct serious falsehoods and libels and to comfort the Company's stock holders."
The Tyre Recovery Association (TRA)has welcomed three new collector members.
US based tyre recycling solutions developer the Tirex Corporation announced on July 14 that Italian company Simpro S.p.A., who is licensed by Tirex to manufacture, install, commission and warrant turnkey its TCS tyre recycling facilities, recently signed a US$20.8 million Memorandum of Understanding with Enchantex Solutions of Malaysia for such a system.
“This is a major milestone for Tirex and our TCS technology as it begins the production of the first commercial tyre recycling system to freeze tyre rubber with cold air as opposed to using expensive liquid nitrogen,” stated Tirex CEO John L. Threshie Jr.
In the past T&A has reported on a cheetah snacking on tyres in a Cambridgeshire backyard – see our November 2008 story for details of this surreal occurrence – and now we’ve caught wind of a panther heading in our direction. This particular creature also chomps readily upon the black rubber objects, yet there is no cause for concern….rather than being a zoo escapee, the panther in question is a boon for the tyre recycling industry.
The Maryland, US based Tire Industry Association (TIA) has announced the slate of candidates for its 2009 Board of Directors election. TIA members will vote in open elections to place ten individuals onto the board for three-year terms. Members will receive ballots in the mail before the end of July, and can also download a ballot from the ‘members only’ section of the TIA website (www.tireindustry.org).
A plan to open a £6 million tyre recycling plant in Clayton-le-Moors (between Blackburn and Burnley) is “likely” to go ahead, local newspapers have reported. According to the Blackburn Citizen, the waste recycling centre, has been recommended for approval subject to a list of conditions from planning officers. A decision is expected tomorrow Wednesday 7 July 2009.
This year Pirelli celebrates 80 years of doing business in Brazil. In the eight decades that followed the company’s first presence there in 1929, Pirelli has established five factories and a research centre in the South American nation and manufactures 90 per cent of its South American production there. This strong presence reflects Brazil’s growing importance as a strategic centre for vehicle production, and Pirelli’s interest in the region remains strong. At a July press conference, held at the company’s Santo André manufacturing site in Sao Paulo, Pirelli outlined plans to invest a further US$200 million in Brazil over the next three years.
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