Tire recycling plant planned for Hamilton
February 26, 2010
Steve Arnold
The Hamilton Spectator
http://www.thespec.com/News/Business/article/728692
Hamilton could become the tire recycling capital of Canada under a plan unveiled by a pair of local entrepreneurs.
Len Lottridge and Mike DiCenzo are planning a tire retreading and recycling plant to be located on Hamilton Port Authority land that, when it's fully in operation, could bring as many as 500 jobs.
"Nothing is in place yet, but this is a very labour-intensive industry so there's the potential for a lot of jobs here," Lottridge said in an interview. "We're talking about a substantial investment here."
The men estimate they could recycle up to 1.2 million scrap tires a year.
Under the name Evergreen Resource Recovery, Lottridge and DiCenzo are proposing a company that would retread tires that still have some road life left and chop up and recycle those that can be used for products such as blasting mats and Astro Turf. The rest will be put through a process called pyrolysis that uses intense heat to break each ton of tires down into about $650 worth of oil, carbon black and other products.
The process, they say, could generate gross profits of almost $370 per ton.
"It's a very basic system," Lottridge said. "We can break it right down to the original materials."
Under the deal, Lottridge's retreading company, T&T T&T Corp., will supply the equipment for the retreading operation while Ukraine-based Coral Group provides pyrolysis technology.
Pyrolysis itself is not new -- what the Ukrainians have added is a cutting machine to chop the tires into uniform squares, making the process more efficient.
If it works, it promises a chance to make some progress on a pressing environmental problem. In Ontario alone, the provincial government estimates up to 12 million tires are disposed of every year. About four million are shipped to companies in Quebec and the U.S. for processing, another six million are recycled by Ontario firms and the rest end up in one of about 95 enormous stockpiles around the province.
"Until now, it has been very costly to get the basic rubber out of an old tire," Lottridge said. "It's not necessarily cost-effective, it's something people have done for the environment."
DiCenzo, who spent 25 years as a combustion engineer at Stelco before getting into the tire business, said the rising cost of new tires, and government levies on them, are making retreads more attractive to consumers. "The timing works for something like this now," he said. "Now we can sell as many retreads and we can produce."
DiCenzo said the total investment for the proposal will be in the range of $160 million, to be raised through investors and government grants.
"We're just waiting for a commitment on the federal funding support now," he said.
The proposed plant would be located on Port Authority land at 450 Sherman Ave. N. Hamilton Port Authority spokesperson Brent Kinnaird said in an e-mail response the HPA is talking with Evergreen but a lease has not been signed.