Tyre reprocessor

The first WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) capital support competition to help businesses increase their tyre reprocessing capacity has awarded grants to Aquablast, Bristol Tyre Shredding and McGrath Bros.

The UK has to dispose of some 48 million used tyres every year: this serious challenge to Government and business in terms of waste disposal is yet further exacerbated by the recent legislation that bans tyres from landfill. At the same time, this offers a major opportunity for waste tyres reprocessors and WRAP has identified a need to stimulate the recycling capacity for used tyres.

'WRAP has supported companies eligible for financial assistance with up to 30% of the capital start-up costs, which include purchasing land, developing new infrastructure and buying tyre reprocessing equipment. The enhanced capacity put in place with these projects has helped increase recycling of used tyres into value-added markets,' explained Steve Waite, Project Manager for Tyres at WRAP.

Bristol Tyre Shredding is new to the tyre processing market. WRAP has supported them with funding for a shredding machine and ancillary equipment to help to process tyres on an existing Western Tyres site at Avonmouth.

McGrath Bros is based in Hackney close to the new Olympic site. The company applied for capital funding from WRAP to further develop an existing recycling facility which currently includes aggregates recycling equipment and a woodrecycling plant. WRAP is supporting McGrath Bros to purchase tyre shredding and granulating equipment along with a loading shovel and grab machine.

Great Yarmouth-based Aquablast  has developed bespoke machinery to remove tyre rubber from the reinforcing steel using high pressure water blasting. WRAP’s support has enabled the company to create a production machine which will provide the unique ability to process large earthmover tyres. These large tyres could not be easily reprocessed previously. Another benefit from the new facility is that the water used is recycled, making the process environmentally friendly.

'The WRAP contribution to this project, both in terms of financial and advisory input, will make a big difference. Construction of a pilot process specifically to deal with larger tyres such as earthmover and the bigger agricultural sizes will address a pressing disposal problem and will lead to the development of a large scale facility in 2008,' said Donald Blair, Managing Director at Aquablast.

To find out more about the advice and resources available free from WRAP, visit www.wrap.org.uk/construction.