Indian reclaimed rubber specialist GRP Ltd. shares that as of 16 February, it has installed capacity for recycling end-of-life tyres at a new plant in Solapur, Maharashtra state. The facility is capable of processing 6,000 tonnes of end-of-life tyres per annum.
Bridgestone Corporation has commenced a joint programme with four other parties to develop chemical recycling technologies that can deliver high yields of isoprene from end-of-life tyres (ELTs). Earlier today it also announced the launch of a joint research and development project with one of these entities, Eneos Corporation, to extract raw materials from ELTs using pyrolysis with the aim of further using these materials to make new tyres.
With the appointment of Fredrik Alpner as Site Manager for its plant in Åsensbruk and future facility in Uddevalla, Swedish firm Scandinavian Enviro Systems says it has made a “strategic recruitment”. Alpner will take office in mid-April and initially work as site manager of Enviro’s Åsensbruk plant. Enviro intends for him to later assume responsibility for the future plant in Uddevalla in the role of site manager.
The Indian government’s announcement of an action plan for the management of increasing volumes of waste tyres has been welcomed by the UK Tyre Recovery Association (TRA). Despite the Indian government’s move as a “much-needed response to a growing environmental challenge”, TRA representatives commented that India’s waste tyre arisings have been “swelling exponentially but so too have imports of old tyres from many western countries”. Some of the latter have reportedly “ended up being processed in illegal or environmentally unsuitable ways”.
European Tyre Enterprise Ltd (ETEL), which owns leading tyre retail and wholesale operations Kwik-Fit and Stapleton’s, has agreed the acquisition of Murfitts Industries, the country’s leading tyre recycling company. ETEL is buying 100 per cent of Murfitts Group Ltd, the parent company of Murfitts Industries. Murfitts operates a national network recycling the equivalent of around 20 million car tyres per year. Murfitts, which processes and recycles tyres into granulate, has been a long-term provider of post-consumer tyre collection and recycling services to ETEL.
Big Atom has big plans. The circular economy start-up, which already boasts the North West’s second-largest tyre recycling plant, is set to ramp-up capacity at its Ellesmere Port headquarters and has plans for two more additional locations as well as the implementation of its pyrolysis technology in the next year or two.
End-of-life tyre recycling firm Genan has a new majority shareholder after PKA, sole owner of Genan since 2014, agreed to sell 51 per cent of its shares in the company to Maj Invest Equity 5 K/S, a fund overseen by one of Denmark’s leading asset management companies. PKA continues to co-own Genan as minority shareholder.
Earlier this year, Michelin Group and Scandinavian Enviro Systems announced they were building a facility for extracting raw materials such as carbon black, oil, steel and gas from end-of-life tyres, with Michelin holding 90 per cent equity in the Antofagasta, Chile-based joint venture. Michelin has selected Italian tyre recycling solution provider Salvadori Srl to supply and install the plant’s downsizing system, and also to train local staff in its operation. The plant will use Salvadori’s technology to reduce tyres into pieces of predetermined dimensions before further processing them.
US-based sustainable materials supplier Bolder Industries, Inc. is looking forward to increasing deliveries to tyre makers and other manufacturers thanks to a new partnership with Liberty Tire Recycling, one of the leading providers of tyre recycling services in North America. It anticipates that the Liberty-supplied feedstock will help it meet growing contractual obligations for its BolderBlack recovered carbon black and BolderOil petrochemicals.
The Board of Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Enviro) decided today on the final location for establishing its previously announced recycling plant in Uddevalla, Sweden, and also approved the company’s environmental permit application. The company intends to formally submit the application this Friday and anticipates that the application process may take up to one year.
Bolder Industries, Inc., a US-based firm specialising in converting end-of-life tyres into sustainable carbon black, oil and steel, has raised US$80 million in equity and an additional $100 million in committed project-level funding. This will support global growth to meet rising customer demand, including long-term contracts from major automotive, manufactured rubber, plastics and sustainable petrochemicals partners. Funding is co-led by CIM Group and Aravaipa Ventures and supported by strategic partner Tauber Oil.
Life for Tyres (L4T) Group has signed a ten-year offtake agreement with Spanish base oils supplier Nexolub to market oils extracted from end-of-life tyres processed at the plant it is currently setting up in Puertollano, Spain. The L4T facility is scheduled to be completed in December and become operational the following month with an annual capacity of 27,000 tonnes – a quantity equivalent to eight per cent of the end-of-life tyres generated in the country each year – it will be one of the largest facilities of its type in Europe.
17 years of dumping has amassed a “tyre graveyard” over 42 million vehicle tyres in Kuwait. According to EuroNews.Green, this has resulted in clouds of toxic black smoke when set alight, creating an “immense environmental risk for residents”.
Scandinavian Enviro Systems’ plans for a new tyre recycling plant in Uddevalla, Sweden have moved a step closer with consultation on the necessary plans for the site.
US-based tyre recycling equipment specialist Eagle International has unveiled a machine capable of producing rubber mulch. The Eagle Edge 360 is designed to remove high-quality mulch from the treads and sidewalls of OTR tyres ranging in size from 33-inch through 63-inch rim diameters.
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E Bouman; Squarespace
Murfitts Industries
Big Atom