By SCBIZ Staff

SIMPSONVILLE -- The Greenville Area Development Corp. announced today that Rubber Recycling Technologies LLC, an innovative startup business that shreds and recycles used vehicle tires from across the Southeast for use in consumer and alternate energy applications, has begun operations in Simpsonville. 

The company has leased and upfitted the formerly-vacant Hart Graphics Building located on S.E. Main Street and expects to be fully operational in August. Capital investment exceeds $1 million and includes 15 new jobs created at launch, paying a wage of up to $16 per hour.  

The startup company is the brainchild of Rubber Recycling Technologies partners Robert Hahn and Richard Belliveau, who identified the rapidly-escalating problem associated with disposing of used tires in community landfills as a critical environmental issue and a business opportunity.

“With estimates that approximately 242 million used tires are discarded annually in the United States, and fewer than 7 percent are recycled, 11 percent are burned for fuel, and a few are exported, that means over 75 percent are sent to landfills, stockpiled, or illegally dumped,” noted Hahn, president of Rubber Recycling Technologies. “We will collect and shred used tires from across the Southeast, creating mulch and playground rubber for distributors who will color and package it for sale at retail. This means jobs for South Carolinians and less waste in landfills—truly a win-win.”

“We expect that within 12 months we will be operating three shifts a day and employing up to 100 Upstate residents,” Hahn said. “From there, it’s realistic to think that we could be adding a second facility and even more associates within three years. This is definitely a growth opportunity.”

Another application for RRT’s shredded tires will be in tire derived fuels, or TDF. The used tires will be cut up into 2-inch chips and sold in bulk to companies that burn coal, allowing them to reduce coal consumption while achieving higher BTU levels at lower cost.

“Because companies that use TDF have special scrubbers and equipment in place, use of scrap tires as TDF are an ideal means of energy recovery,” added Beliveau, vice president of Rubber Recycling Technologies. “It’s another way to reduce consumption of precious natural resources like coal while simultaneously reducing a waste problem.”