Enviro final candidate for China tire-recycling plant

Scandinavian Enviro Systems A.B. was the only final candidate in a tender process to build a 30,000-metric-tons-a-year tire-recycling plant for Chinese tire maker Vanlead Group, the Swedish company said Oct. 26.

Both parties have 30 days, from when the official tender certificate is issued—expected within a couple of days—to agree on a final contract for the construction the facility. It to be located at Vanlead's industrial site in Guangzhou, China.

The order, which is potentially worth over $23.9 million, underlines the standing of Enviro's technology in the international tire-recycling market, CEO Thomas Sorensson said."Vanlead is one of China's largest, and one of the world's most progressive tire producers, and has chosen Enviro's technology to integrate tire recycling with their own tire production," Sorensson said.

"The plant will recycle 33,000 tons of end-of-life tires and produce 10,000 tons of carbon black per year," he added. "As far as we know, the plant will be the first in the world of its kind to be owned and operated by a tire producer with the purpose to recover carbon black for its own manufacturing process."

Enviro's boss added that China is the world's largest tire market and needed "circular solutions" for the handling of end-of-life tires both environmentally and in terms of resources."We have delivered recovered carbon black to Volvo for nearly two years, and shown that Enviro's technology is able to provide a high and stable quality to the rubber industry," Sorensson said.

"Our primary focus now is to establish a first plant in China which will then open the door to additional plant sales all over the world."

Vanlead is a state-owned industrial enterprise based in Guangzhou, China. Founded in 2001, the group also manufactures salt chemicals and fine chemicals. It currently has two tire plants in China, with an annual capacity of 16 million tires, and plans to build another in the U.S.