Genan, a company specializing in the processing of tires, announced the opening of a tire recycling facility in Houston, Texas.
The $140 million plant, according to Genan, is the largest such facility in the world. It will employ approximately 60 workers and was constructed over the last two years.
The tire recycling facility has the capacity to recycle approximately 10 million passenger car tire equivalents a year, about a third of all the used tires in Texas.
Genan’s Houston facility is also the first manufacturing location launched by the company in the United States and will become the US headquarters for their expansion plans.
Genan has plans to capture 10 percent of the American recycled tire market. The company’s strategic expansion plans include a network of 4 new plants across the US in the coming years.
Lars Raahauge, Genan’s director of Business Development, said, “We are currently performing due diligence on a number of states across the country. Exact locations will depend on the long-term reliability of available tire supplies as well as a business setting, community support, and a legislative and regulatory approach that is compatible with Genan’s environmentally and climate friendly tire recycling concept.”
Scientific studies have revealed that Genan recycling process, compared to incineration for tire derived fuel and civil engineering filling operations, dramatically reduces greenhouse gas emissions, acidification and fossil fuel demand. The company has a motto of “Don’t dump or burn a valuable resource!” to highlight the process Genan utilizes compared to other disposal methods for scrap tires.
Genan’s highly advanced recycling technology is fully automated and has undergone continuous development since inception in 1990. Scrap tires are separated into their basic components: rubber powder and granulate, steel and textile. The end products are uniform, clean and well suited for high quality substitution applications, such as asphalt and bitumen modifications to make roads stronger and longer lasting.
Cheryl Mergo, Sustainable Development Program Manager for the Houston-Galveston Area Council, welcomed the news and said, “Genan’s Houston facility is an exciting addition to the US market and represents tremendous progress in environmental stewardship and recycling technology.”
Genan’s products are also used for synthetic turf installations, playgrounds and recreational facilities, sports tracks and grounds, asphalt roads, building products, flooring, injection molded products, industrial applications, noise insulation and many other purposes and applications. Genan products have been utilized at the last 2 NFL Super Bowls and are currently in use across the country at a number of professional and college football facilities.
Within 24 months, the Genan Houston plant will be expanded to produce a line of very fine cryogenic rubber powder and a technologically unique devulcanization line for the production of rubber, which will be able to substitute virgin rubber compounds.