Having recently completed a work life change event (was part of a lay-off after 32 years with a company) it got me thinking about a new job that would address an issue that is a pain point for our country…..

I wonder if there would be gov’t funding available if I wanted to set up a new small business grinding up old tires that could be used for road paving projects. Just thinking out loud on this “thinking outside of the box” idea.

Thoughts/Comments on my wild ass idea?

I like the practice in theory. There are companies that grind up old tires and make “wood chips” for landscaping use. You might look into that to see what’s involved.
Best I recall, (my wife is in the waste biz) is that the equipment is pretty expensive to buy and operate.

With a Google search, this provided a lot of information to be considered:

https://cmshredders.com/2020/0...p-tire-business-101/

Looking at the equipment they sell, it appears to be a very complicated process.

I'm in an environmental policy major and did my senior paper on recycled tires (pros and cons). It's been 25 years though, so I'm not up to speed on current trends and markets.

A few thoughts.....

Does your state or county collect waste tire fees at the point of sale to establish a fund that, in theory, addresses the costs/problems of properly handling waste tires? If so, they may have grants or loans to help establish waste tire businesses.

Check out state solid waste agencies (CalRecycle.org) to see what is already being done in your state or region. Does a current operator already address the issue?

As with any solid waste, permits for handling, hauling and disposal will be lengthy....and costly.

Lastly, is there a demand for recycled waste tire products in your region?

Recycled tires is a mature issues and hundreds of millions being spent nationally to address it.

You may find opportunities that fit your desires, but look into before taking the plunge.

Labor and equipment are intensive. You also get to deal with the EPA.

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
I like the practice in theory. There are companies that grind up old tires and make “wood chips” for landscaping use. You might look into that to see what’s involved.
Best I recall, (my wife is in the waste biz) is that the equipment is pretty expensive to buy and operate.

I always wondered how they got away with this since it would be polluting the environment. I remember making tire reefs and placing them in Smith Mountain Lake.

You can also make synthetic 'Bark Mulch' out of recycled tires...Save the Trees, Save the Planet!

Getting the steel belting out is one major issue

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
Labor and equipment are intensive. You also get to deal with the EPA.

You'll have to deal with OSHA too and likely most of your employees will be ex-cons.

If you're going to do it, design the tire grinder with a hydraulic ram to unclog jams, and you'll need to train all of your employees on proper lock out / tag out. My neighbor works for an insurance company, and one of his roles is to be an investigator for unusual claims. Apparently, Houston has a tire recycling company and they had a fatality. Turns out they had a new guy managing the top load tire grinder, the tire grinder jammed, the pole they gave him to unjam the grinder didn't work, and he climbed over the rail to jump up and down on the jam. Unfortunately, his efforts to unclog the jam worked and he became one with the ground tires.

BTW, here is a news story on the accident but lacks the details I provided.

quote:

a new small business grinding up old tires that could be used for road paving projects

Back when I worked for Michelin they actually did just what you're describing on several miles of road. At the time, their conclusion was that it simply wasn't cost effective, for many different reasons including regulatory problems.

Also, I'm hardly in favor of the getting .gov "funding" involved because as noted in a few other replies, they're actually most of the problem.

Scrap tires have become a major source of fuel for cement kilns and recycling or grinding is done on a large scale.
To use them as fuel they just roll them into a very hot furnace where they ignite and no processing is needed beforehand.
Probably not a good opportunity for starting a business there.

Rubber road idea has been around a long time.

https://www.wired.com/2010/09/0907akron-rubber-road/

This message has been edited. Last edited by: hi-power man,

The berms at my old gun club in Florida were covered with ground tire chunks.

In our town there is a company called Champlin tire recycling, they have trucks driving to several Midwest states, picking up used tires for a fee. They grind some up and make picnic tables and park benches. I have a bench at home, heavy and will last a lifetime. The rest of the tires get cut up and buried under ground, not sure that is really recycling, but they do run a smart business.

Long story , short . The start up cost of such a business would probably be enormous .

Another avenue for investigation might be to talk to several owner/operators of such a business to hear their pain points, and maybe even what kind of offer they might accept for their business. Subtract the value of the customer list and other "good will" and you might be close to what it would take out of pocket to set up on your own. If you are prepared to make a bona fide offer, you would have income statements and balance sheet data to review for due diligence.

quote:

Originally posted by 41:

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
I like the practice in theory. There are companies that grind up old tires and make “wood chips” for landscaping use. You might look into that to see what’s involved.
Best I recall, (my wife is in the waste biz) is that the equipment is pretty expensive to buy and operate.

I always wondered how they got away with this since it would be polluting the environment. I remember making tire reefs and placing them in Smith Mountain Lake.

HA! On one of the last houses we built at SML the utility company that owns the dam and manages the lake (AEP) said that we cut down some trees that we weren’t suppose to along the water’s edge when we had the shoreline rip rapped. We had video evidence that we did no such thing but the bottom line was that we could not get our Certificate of Occupancy without their signing off so we installed several underwater fish habitats… what a crock!

There was a section of Marion county 326 in Ocala that was paved using a rubberized asphalt and it also was red as shown in the photo supplied in the link https://www.wired.com/2010/09/0907akron-rubber-road/. It was a nice smooth and quiet road to drive on as compared to the regular asphalt. I also never observed any cracks or patches thereon for the twenty or so years I drove on it, but it was repaved at some point in the name of progress. (progress probably = some money for a big guy)

quote:

Originally posted by sigarmsp226:
Having recently completed a work life change event (was part of a lay-off after 32 years with a company) it got me thinking about a new job that would address an issue that is a pain point for our country…..

I wonder if there would be gov’t funding available if I wanted to set up a new small business grinding up old tires that could be used for road paving projects. Just thinking out loud on this “thinking outside of the box” idea.

Thoughts/Comments on my wild ass idea?

I once worked for a company that took shreded rubber tires and melted them into pallets. I learned the pallet industry is a multi-billion industry with many small manufacturers and a couple of big ones. The company was a start-up with funds from the government so I'm sure there's government funding for the shredding part. But the company I worked for closed about a year. It was trying to get itself sold. No buyers.