A Hungarian city of Zalaegerszeg in the Zala region will see the construction of a new rubber bitumen plant capable of recycling 20,000 tons of scrap tires annually; the facility is expected to become operative next year.

The company behind the plant construction is the local energy and chemical company MOL. Moreover, the development is possible thanks to a huge investment allocated by MOL; at the same time, the State Enterprise Investment Support Program also provided partial funding to the initiative. In total, the sum of investment is estimated at 3 billion Hungarian Forint.

The facility development comes after earlier this month Hungarian top officials, including finance minister, participated in the ceremony during which they laid the foundation stone of the new rubber bitumen plant in Zalaegerszeg.

The rubber bitumen that the plant will manufacture can be used in road construction and asphalt projects; by means of adding of this recycled material roads show greater durability and resistance. It is noteworthy that the Hungarian plant will rely on environment friendly technology, and on a patented system jointly developed by MOL and Pannon University specialists.

The new facility will use some 3,000 tons of waste rubber every year – these materials are used to manufacture rubberized bitumen. In total, it helps to recycle around half a million scrap tires – this figure represents 8-10 percent of the annual tire waste in Hungary.

Article by MOL.