Nonmetallics

Through the combined efforts of state and local agencies, roughly 30 million scrap tires have been cleaned up in Ohio. A $1-per-tire fee on the sale of new tires funds the abatement program.

"The scrap tire program has had many successes due to an effective enforcement program and growth in markets for recycled scrap tire material," Christopher Jones, director of the Ohio EPA, says. "Our goal is to prevent the creation of new large-scale tire dumps and tackle the remaining smaller sites across the state."

State contracts are currently in place to complete cleanup at the last two super-sized tire sites in Ohio. The McMaster’s site in Portage County is to be completed in 2005, and the Kirby Tire site in Wyandot County will be completed in June 2006.

The Ohio EPA says that completing these large site cleanups will allow it to focus on smaller sites. Two dozen known sites with 30,000 to 750,000 tires each are slated for the next round of removal.

Cleanup starts with enforcement at the local level. A combination of local enforcement and funding has resulted in the removal of more than 8 million tires from 88 sites throughout Ohio, in addition to state-funded cleanups. A local health department can initiate enforcement action to get a property owner to clean a site. If that effort is not fruitful, Ohio EPA can take legal action to force the site owner to clean up. As a last resort, state scrap tire cleanup funds are used, and the agency pursues cost recovery from the owner.

Ohio has at least 76 tire sites containing up to 30,000 tires each.

GreenMan Technologies Inc., Lynnfield, Mass., has completed $9 million in financing with Laurus Master Fund Ltd., a New York-based institutional fund that specializes in direct investments in growing small-cap companies.

The new $9 million financing consists of a $5 million convertible revolving working capital line of credit and a $4 million convertible term loan with more than $1 million earmarked for full implementation of its new high-volume tire processing facility in Tennessee.

"The Laurus Funds financing removes the constraints under which we have been operating since the failure of our previous primary lender in February 2003," Chuck Coppa, GreenMan CFO, says. "This financing provides us with an immediate capital injection that not only allows us to positively impact our working capital situation but also provides the resources necessary to aggressively move forward in efforts to implement our Tennessee project."

Bob Davis, GreenMan president and CEO, says, "We now have access to the capital necessary to not only complete our southeastern initiatives, but to address other accretive opportunities as they may arise and lay the groundwork for further corporate growth."

ERAtech, based in Dayton, Ohio, has begun reprocessing and removing 8,000 tons of shredded tires, or approximately 800,000 tire equivalents, from the old American Tire Recyclers Inc. site in San Antonio. The cleanup is scheduled to take approximately 120 days, according to a press release from EraTech.

The company is screening and then re-shredding the chipped tires to the proper size for recycling and use as an alternative fuel at the TXI cement plant in Hunter, Texas. With permits from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, ERAtech will sort the tire chips by size using an on-site mobile screen. Oversize pieces will be shredded on site, while undersize pieces will be set aside for use as a crumb rubber feedstock. All product that is a nominal 1.5 inches or less will be used as a tire-derived fuel.

"We anticipate to have this project completed by mid-summer," Mike Linton, ERAtech’s president, says. "With the issues that surround tire piles, such as fire, we are pushing to cleanup this area to remove these potential problems from the community while having the tire chips beneficially reused."

Plastics recycler St. Jude Polymer, Frackville, Pa., has received a low-interest, 20-year Rural Development Guaranteed Business and Industry loan totaling about $1.6 million from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

The money will be used to pay off earlier bank debt and to assist in the addition of 13,500 square feet to the company’s plant.

St. Jude Polymer President Stephen Babinchak Sr. says the company hopes to have the expansion complete by the middle of August.

The PET and HDPE recycler is also looking to strengthen its collection of materials, pulling from as many as 30 counties in the state.

Babinchak notes that St. Jude Polymer has been working with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for the past four years on more economically sound collection of plastics.

Along with the loan from the USDA, the company also received a $750,000 performance loan for equipment from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development in January.

TieTek LLC, a subsidiary of North American Technologies Group Inc., hosted an open house in late May to celebrate the opening of its new Marshall, Texas, composite crosstie manufacturing facility.

Several national and railroad industry leaders participated in the event, including former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, Texas Congressman Max Sandlin and Transportation and Technology Center executive Ed Groves. The Transportation Technology Center is an independent railroad testing facility owned by the Association of American Railroads. Representatives from the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroads were also present, as were representatives from TieTek’s suppliers and strategic partners.

"This is the culmination of 10 years of commitment and support from all of our customers, suppliers, shareholders and employees," TieTek President Henry Sullivan said. "We are pleased the railroad industry recognizes the performance of our ties and the environmental benefits of the TieTek technology."