Ten years have passed since a small team with a clever idea and a vision formed Black Bear Carbon, and although the decade hasn’t been without its setbacks, the company is getting ready to roll out its process for recovering carbon black and other valuable raw materials from end of life tyres. Pending financing, a new plant in Rotterdam, the Netherlands will be operational by the end of next year.
Michelin is entering into a partnership with Swedish firm Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Enviro) to develop and industrialise on a large scale pyrolysis technology to recycle end of life tyres into raw materials. The two companies signed a shareholding subscription today that will see a subsidiary of the tyre maker, Michelin Ventures SAS, acquire a 20 per cent stake in Enviro.
The Tyre Recovery Association has urged tyre retailers, vehicle dismantlers, and others who need to dispose of waste tyres to beware unrealistically low rates. Reprocessing costs are soaring, as Tyrepress previously reported, and measures by Asian authorities, especially in India, are countering the trade imbalance that has artificially lowered the cost of exporting waste tyres to the continent. Tyre Recovery Association secretary general Peter Taylor explains that rates hit historic lows over the past year or two due to often questionable treatment processes in the region.
Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Enviro) is developing a public, international corporate bond to finance the company’s ownership of forthcoming recycling plants for end-of-life vehicle tyres. The work to develop the bond is being carried out in collaboration with the London-based financial adviser, Zenzic Partners.
Instead of just approving the use of its technology under license, Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Enviro) intends to introduce its technology worldwide by participating in joint ventures. To facilitate the setting up of such plants in the USA, Enviro’s board of directors has founded a holding company in that market.
The New Zealand government is looking to introduce a regulated product stewardship scheme for end of life tyres (ELTs) that places financial responsibility upon importers and retailers to ensure their products are recycled. Tyres are one of six priority products identified by the country’s Ministry for the Environment. The ministry is seeking consultation on proposed guidelines for regulatory product stewardship schemes and is accepting submissions until 4 October.
The deadlines set out in two of the memoranda of understandings signed between Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Enviro) and firms based in Denmark, the USA and Canada last year may have passed, yet Enviro says this “will not affect the outcome of the negotiations or the possibility of opening the various plants.” The Swedish company still expects to establish joint venture tyre recycling plants with all three partners in the not too distant future.
Denmark-based end of life tyre recycler Genan Holding and Portuguese transport and construction equipment solutions provider Nors have signed a definite agreement for Genan to acquire Nors’ subsidiary, BioSafe – Indústria de Reciclagens, S.A., operator of Portugal’s largest tyre recycling plant. The transaction is expected to close at the end of this month, adding a sixth tyre recycling plant to Genan’s global footprint.
Scandinavian Enviro Systems AB has signed a memorandum of understanding with EE-TDF Cleveland, LLC, a US tyre-recycling company. The agreement remains in effect for six months, has an option to extend, and opens up opportunities for additional joint venture plants with an annual recycling capacity of 30,000 tonnes tyres.
Linglong Tire is examining tyre pyrolysis technology and its application to waste tyre recycling. The tyre maker shares that it organised a conference on the subject at its headquarters in Zhaoyuan, China on 24 July, an event attended by 13 academics and experts from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Sichuan University, Zhejiang University and Beijing University of Technology.
Stockpiles of scrap tyres in the United States of America have decreased 94 per cent since the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) instigated efforts to re-purpose scrap tyres, reports the trade association. While scrap tyre stockpiles in the USA contained more than a billion tyres in total in 1991, by 2017 these stockpiles had reduced to just 60 million tyres.
The Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) has responded to an assertion by the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA) that “some discussions seem to have recently kicked-off in the UK to study the feasibility of introducing an EPR [extended producer responsibility] regime” following an enquiry by Tyres & Accessories. The TRA states that there have been “no discussions at Federation level” looking into a similar collective scheme approved by national authorities to that implemented by 23 European countries. It adds that it will seek clarification from the UK’s Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. The 2 May statement accompanied an ETRMA report on the collection and treatment of tyres in European markets.
A consolidated report on used tyres arising in Europe in 2016 shows 94 per cent were collected and treated. In compiling the data, the European Tyre and Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA), consolidated used tyre (UT) management data for 2016 covering 32 countries, including the EU28, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, and Turkey.
An Ayrshire tyre recycling company was fined £27,000 on 18 April 2018 at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court for waste offences at a site in Irvine. A manager was also ordered to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work under a Community Payback Order and to pay a Confiscation Order of £44,711. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is reminding all companies of the importance of working within the regulations following this sentence.
The Tyre Recovery Association (TRA) has announced the introduction of its Responsible Part Worn Tyre programme (RPWTP) at its 2018 forum day at the Belfry Hotel in Wishaw. The programme, introduced and strongly endorsed by Stefan Hay, chief executive of the National Tyre Distributors’ Association (NTDA) at the event, was detailed by Alan Bithell. The RPWTP has been designed with the purpose of raising standards of professionalism in retailers selling part-worn tyres, ensuring all tyres sold by participating retailers are legally compliant.
Aeroview/Port of Rotterdam