Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 10, 1993 TAG: 9312100033
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Up to 5,000 old tires a day may be shredded at the Roanoke Industrial Center and recycled for a variety of uses.
Recycled tires can be used as fuel for factories and in the manufacture of asphalt and dozens of other products like golf-cart tires and hoses.
The Roanoke Board of Zoning Appeals has given permission for the shredding and recycling business, which will be located on part of the old American Viscose property.
Ronald Andrews, who will operate the business, said he hopes to begin the shredding operations within the next few weeks.
A tire shredder works like a paper shredder. Tires are cut into small pieces, which can be recycled to make rubber products.
In a second phase, a grinder can be used to convert the strips of rubber into crumbs which are smaller than sand.
Andrews said he expects to have both a shredder and grinder when the business is in full operation. The equipment will cost about $800,000.
Andrews, who formerly worked for the city's Grounds Maintenance Department, said he is working with private investors who are helping to finance the business.
He is also working with the state Department of Environmental Quality on a new waste-tire program run by the state. The plan, which is being financed by a 50-cent tax on all new tires, will provide a way for tire dealers and others to dispose of their old tires.
The program also is designed to help clean up an estimated 400 stockpiles in the state containing about 25 million tires.
Andrews already has started stockpiling old tires at the site in the Roanoke Industrial Center.
He said he is working with about 80 tire shops, garages and other businesses to get rid of their old tires, by picking them up and hauling them to the industrial center.
He is beginning to find customers for the processed tires, including some as far away as Georgia, he said.
Several Virginia companies already have tested using shredded tires as boiler fuel. Georgia Pacific Corp. uses shredded tires as a fuel on a regular basis at its Big Island operations.
Andrews said he is not interested in shredding millions of tires that are in a dump in south Roanoke County unless he is paid to do the job.
W.J. Keeling, whose Starlight Lane property is the state's second largest tire dump - with 3 million tires - had said he hoped to set up a tire shredding operation there.
He said his site would be ideal: 100 acres, adjacent to a railroad siding and, of course, plenty of tires.
But Keeling's plan lacks financial backing. He is hoping to get help from the state's tire fund and possibly the county Board of Supervisors.
"Everybody's tires were put there free of charge, so everyone benefitted from it. We're trying to solve a problem, and we've got a good chance if the county will work with us," Keeling said.
County officials, however, say they are not interested in putting a heavy industrial site near pricey communities such as Hunting Hills.
"We can't put that on these people," said Supervisors Chairman Fuzzy Minnix, who represents the Cave Spring District where Keeling's property is located.
Minnix said spending taxpayer money to clean up Keeling's tires would send the wrong signal to illegal dumpers.
Staff writer David M. Poole contributed to this story.
by CNB