Nevada Tire Recycling Project Takes Step

World Renew is another step closer to constructing a tire recycling plant in Wells, Nevada, according to Wells City Manager Jolene Supp.

She had just heard this week from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection that NDEP has agreed to accept an application from World Renew for a Class III air quality permit.

"That's at least six to eight months' savings in permitting from a Class I permit," she said, adding that the air quality permit is the last key permit needed for the proposed plant that would be located in the Wells heavy industrial park.

"The rest is rocking and rolling," Supp said regarding permitting procedures.

A Class III permit is required for projects that expect to have the least amount of emissions, whereas a Class I requires an environmental assessment, she said.

NDEP was originally looking at the Class I permit until Wells and World Renew were able to show that World Renew's plans for carbon black production from tires differs from carbon black recovery.

Supp also said World Renew has sent its financial package for funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Electrification Agency, including letters from support from the city and county entities.

World Renew plans to use a process developed by Environmental Waste called reserved polymerization to process old tires to produce carbon black, recycled steel and to produce enough electricity to sell what it doesn't use on the market.

World Renew owner Patrick Barney said earlier that plans call for building a $20 million plant that would recycle 2 million tires a year using the microwave technology. Elko (Nevada) Daily Free Press