Recycling plant ‘could act as hub’

A TYRE recycling plant planned for Toowoomba could act as a hub to attract other manufacturing industries, according to Green Distillation Technologies chief operating officer Trevor Bayley.

Mr Bayley’s vision for the Wellcamp Business Park will be unveiled during his speech at the Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise September Enterprise Evening later this month.

Green Distillation Technologies is the Australian company with world-first technology that can recycle end-of life tyres into oil, carbon and steel in an environmentally sustainable manner.

The company is planning to open a plant in Toowoomba next year.

Mr Bayley will explain that co-generation means it is feasible to share the surplus heat from their manufacturing process with other adjacent companies in the Wellcamp Business Park.

“This concept means that nearby businesses can use the heat we generate from our recycling process to heat water or other fluids to cut costs and increase their efficiency,” he said.

“I particularly have food production in mind as they are big users of heat. The region is rich in agricultural production and we are adjacent to an airport with national and international air freight connections.

“It could be a win-win situation.”

Construction of the proposed plant is expected to begin later this year and when completed will process 19,300 tonnes, or a mix of 658,000 car and truck tyres per year, to yield about eight million litres of oil, 7700 tonnes of carbon and 2000 tonnes of steel.

The volume of valuable recyclable material produced by the process is impressive and a typical 10kg car tyre will yield four litres of oil, 4kg of carbon, 2kg of steel.

Tickets are now on sale for the TSBE Enterprise Evening, which will be held on September 13. For more information head to www.tsbe.com.au/ events.