Belgian company RISORCE (Renewable, Innovative Solutions towards Recycling & Circular Economy) has closed a €12.5M round of financing from GREEN.er (Recytyre), Noshaq, Wallonie Entreprendre and various players in the financial sector in order to build a new end-of-life tire recycling plant in the province of Liège. Using a pyrolysis process, this plant will enable the equivalent of half of Belgium’s car tires to be processed locally.

More than 5 million car tires are collected in Belgium every year, according to Recytyre, the Belgian organisation responsible for coordinating the collection of end-of-life tires. In Belgium, the majority of these tires are shredded and the rubber particles are separated from the textile and metal parts so that they can used in various industrial processes, including sports flooring, shock-absorbing or soundproofing materials, street furniture and road asphalt.

Like many other sectors, the tire recycling industry is no exception to the search for new technologies that are part of a circular economy. This is the challenge that RISORCE has set itself. Founded in 2022, RISORCE will deploy a pyrolysis process that will mainly produce oil, which will be sold as a raw material to European petrochemical companies. The other products of the process are carbon black and gas, which will also be used in industrial processes or for the plant’s operating needs. All the tire granulates will be converted into products with an industrial application, making this a particularly interesting process in terms of environmental recovery. The treatment of end-of-life tires by RISORCE will make it possible to drastically reduce carbon emissions, estimated at over 70% in the study of the economic and environmental assessment of plastic waste recycling recently published by the EU.

"RISORCE meets a need for local solutions in Belgium for processing tire waste, while at the same time being firmly committed to a circular economy approach. We are offering a locally-based solution that is both technologically and environmentally robust. A real innovation", Bernard van den Wouwer, Founder & CEO of RISORCE.

The RISORCE plant will use a pyrolysis process to treat end-of-life tires. While this industrial process is not new as such, its application to the recycling of tire granulates is in its infancy. No unit of this type is yet operating on an industrial scale in Belgium or neighbouring countries.

Leading players are working with RISORCE to build the plant, in strict compliance with environmental and legal standards. The involvement of GREEN.er, the investment fund set up by Recytyre to support the emergence of new tire processing industries, underlines the technological and strategic interest of this type of project in Belgium. The project has also received the support of a committee of experts from Pôle Mecatech, a local competitiveness cluster, of which RISORCE is a member.

Chris Lorquet, CEO of Recytyre: "The traditional rubber recycling industry is at a turning point. It needs to reinvent itself. The future of material circularity lies in the chemical processing of tire components. The RISORCE pyrolysis project is a fine example of this. I am also very pleased that this initiative is based in Wallonia. The GREEN.er fund was created to support the development of such industries at a local level. »

More than 2 million car tires recycled per year by 2025

RISORCE has selected the East Belgium Park Development Zone in Baelen, in the Province of Liège, as its future location.

Planned to accommodate six waste tire processing units on the site, the project will process 18,000 tons of tire granulates per year, equivalent to 2,400,000 tires per year.

To achieve this, an investment of €12.5 million is planned in a first phase. Funds have been raised from Noshaq, the GREEN.er fund (Recytyre) as well as ING and Wallonie Entreprendre. The first unit will be built as early as 2024, followed by subsequent units, so that the site will be fully operational by 2025. Ultimately, the plant should create around twenty local jobs.

Stéphanie Sacré, Invest Manager for Noshaq comments: "RISORCE is an industrial project that meets the multiple objectives of Noshaq's investment policy. The solution not only contributes to reduce the environmental impact of the tire production sector, but also has a direct economic impact, as it creates jobs and contributes to the reindustrialisation of the Liège region ."

About RISORCE:

RISORCE (Renewable, Innovative Solutions towards Recycling & Circular Economy), a Belgian company involved in a range of services linked to the logistics and trading of end-of-life tires, offers solutions for recycling end-of-life tires by transforming them into products that can be sold on the Belgian and international market using a non-catalytic pyrolysis process, without the addition of chemicals. An innovative process that is robust, local and virtuous.

About Noshaq:

Noshaq is an investment fund and project developer with a portfolio of 469 companies. Noshaq is the financial partner of reference for the creation and development of SMEs in the Liège region. Over the years, Noshaq has developed a range of financing vehicles in line with the needs and trends of the market and with its strategy. Each service offered by Noshaq is tailored to the needs and requirements of the owner-investor. The aim is always to leverage the company’ development.

About GREEN.er:

Created in 2017 at the initiative of the founding members of Recytyre, the organisation that manages end-of-life tires in Belgium, and in collaboration with the King Baudouin Foundation, the GREEN.er fund aims to promote the diversification of outlets for raw materials derived from the recycling of end-of-life tires in Belgium. GREEN.er supports local and circular projects aimed at ecological and sustainable treatment of this waste by stimulating the use of these secondary raw materials in industry.

Press release by RISORCE.