TX: German Co. Invests $140M, Opens World's Largest Tire Recycling Plant in Houston

The official grand opening of Germany-based Genan’s 100,000 to tire recycling facility is celebrated in Houston, Texas. 

The factory is the largest of its kind in the world, boasting a capacity equivalent to almost 2.5 times the total amount of tires annually scrapped in Denmark, where the first Genan factory was built. The Houston plant represents an investment of more than USD 140 million, has been operational since the middle of 2013 and employs approx. 60 full-time staff members.

The Houston factory is the first step in Genan’s U.S. strategy, and as in Europe, Genan is aiming for a market share of approx. 10% of the American market for end-of-life tires.

As early as 2009, Genan set up a US sales organization in order to build up a network of customers – and to foster growing knowledge of Genan’s top-quality products within recycled rubber powder and granulate. Although a blank sheet in the US market prior to this launch, the high quality of Genan products has already secured an impressive market share within selected segments.

The facility in Houston, Texas, is the Genan U.S. head office and the first cornerstone of a strategic network of 4-5 plants to be optimally placed in respect of tires supply as well as customer base. The decision to place the factory in Houston was primarily made on the grounds of the positive business climate in Texas, access to the second busiest port in the U.S. as well as the low energy costs, corresponding to only 39% of energy costs in Denmark.

The Genan tyre recycling technology, processing end-of-life tires to new raw material in the form of rubber and steel for the substitution of virgin rubber and steel, is the most climate friendly and environmentally safe method of disposal for scrap tyres. For each ton recycled in a Genan factory, a minimum of 1.1 ton of CO2 is saved in comparison with e.g., co-incineration of tires in cement kilns.