News: Tire Recycling & Pyrolysis

InvestChile is the Chilean government agency responsible for promoting Chile in the global market as a destination for foreign direct investment, serving as a bridge between the interests of overseas investors and the business opportunities the country offers, providing world-class services that are in line with Chile’s economic development policies. In December 2021, the Agency reported that as a part of its “European Roadshow”, InvestChile’s Managing Director Andrés Rodríguez Rowe, together with the head of the Investment Promotion Division, Salvatore Di Giovanni Vergara, met in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with Maarten Van Randeraat, the owner of Granuband – an established tire recycling company operating in the EU and US.

Porous Lane, a new firm that uses University of Melbourne technology to create highly permeable pavements out of recycled tire rubber, is delivering water to the city's parks and gardens while also diverting garbage and reducing pollution in our rivers. Porous Lane uses research from the University of Melbourne to create permeable pavements out of used tires. These ecofriendly pavements filter rainwater to decrease stormwater runoff, promote healthy tree development, and prevent flooding in our urban environment. According to the University of Melbourne, Porous Lane pavements are less expensive, more durable, and simpler to maintain than its rivals, with the added bonus of containing at least 50% recycled content.

Pearl Global Limited – an Australia-based tire pyrolysis company – recently announced the appointment of Mr. David Wheeley as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) commencing in February 2022. Most recently David Wheeley has been General Manager of Cleanaway Waste Management’s Solid Waste Services in Queensland. Prior to this Mr. Wheeley has held a range of senior executives positions at Hynds Group, Hygrade Water and Holcim, according to Pearl Global’s press release.

In 2021, GENAN Ovar received the 2021 Environment Award (Premio Ambiente 2021) for modernizing, improving, and contributing to development of tire recycling industry in Portugal. Eduardo Gaspar, director of Automotive, presented the award to Rui Fernandes, plant manager of GENAN Ovar. The Fleet&Service Automobile Awards are given out based on the Magazine's internal criteria as well as the input of various market experts (stakeholders) throughout 2021, making it a significant milestone in the professional automotive sector in Portugal since 2017.

SIGNUS, the major Spanish EPR program, has announced an adjustment in the structure of tire categories in the pricing table, which was detailed by Gabriel Leal, the General Director, and Julián Madruga, the Director of Relationships with Affiliated Companies. SIGNUS tariffs have been structured based on the use of the tyre rather than its unit weight since its inception. This methodology allowed for subjective interpretations, producing market confusion. As a result, and in accordance with the notion of fairness, SIGNUS' Board of Directors has approved a reformulation of the categories based on weight sections of the new tyre in order to adjust the relevant tariff more objectively.

Tony Patti of OzTyre Recyclers is aiming to turn an end-of-life tire export ban in Australia into an opportunity, Waste Management Review magazine reports. He's set the wheels in motion for a better future with the support of Waste Initiatives. Tony Patti was taught as a "young bloke" that if you're going to recycle, you should be able to recycle a product into something else. OzTyre Recyclers, a family business, is "not there yet," but is well on its way.

North West Rubber Ltd. ("NWR"), a renowned manufacturer and distributor of recycled and virgin rubber matting and other flooring materials, was acquired by TorQuest Partners. NWR has three manufacturing sites in Abbotsford, BC, Brantford, ON, and Houston, TX, as well as a tire-recycling joint venture, Evolve Recycling Inc., also in Brantford, ON, and a number of key manufacturing alliances in Asia. North West Rubber is a leading manufacturer and distributor of recycled and virgin rubber matting and other flooring materials for consumer, farm, athletic facility, and industrial applications. TorQuest Partners is a private equity fund manager based in Canada. TorQuest is currently investing from TorQuest Partners Fund V, a C$1.375 million fund that closed in March 2020, with more than CA$3 billion in equity money under management.

To further increase its contribution to reducing the harmful effects of industrial waste on the environment, APM Terminals Apapa, Nigeria has started a pilot using paving blocks made from recycled used tyres for exterior paving. This was announced in an APM’s recent press release from December 2, 2021. Studies have shown that recycling tires helps reduce the effects of harmful chemicals on the environment. Recycling also prevents tires from becoming breeding grounds for disease-carrying pests such as malaria mosquitoes. The company is running a pilot project with a Nigerian recycling facility, Freetown Waste Management Recycle Limited, to use the paving blocks at the terminal and potentially recycle the terminals own used tires in the future. Following the pilot the sustainability of the solution will be evaluated.

The BlackCycle consortium organized a workshop with 120 worldwide industry leaders, legislators, academics, H2020 project coordinators, and institutional representatives at the Michelin technical center in Ladoux, France, close to the end of November 2021. The workshop's goal was to explore and share ideas about how to implement a circular economy in Europe. BlackCycle stated during the event that it has created the world's first sustainable carbon blacks (sCB) for use in tire applications in a carbon black furnace reactor using oils derived from the pyrolysis of end-of-life tires. The cyclical process that BlackCycle intends to implement is the creation of this sustainable material from end-of-life tires.