Funding boosts UK tyre recycling

UK Rubber has acquired £370 000 (EUR 422 500) from the Reward Finance Group to advance its tyre recycling business.

The funding will enable the recycler to invest in new equipment while increasing its workforce by 30% on route to ‘ambitious’ growth targets. One of these is boosting revenues by over 90% in 2023.

Partnering with local authorities, businesses, and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency has allowed UK Rubber to improve operational efficiencies. Tackling contamination within the steel extraction process was a major milestone, according to company ceo Dave Ashurst. As a result, the recyclers’ market value soared by 100%.

‘We have always been a business that continually innovates and invests in cutting-edge processes, machinery and the people needed to meet the UK’s environmental waste management challenges,’ Ashurst says. ‘The new funding provided by Reward gives us the working capital to do just that and transform the business at pace from an enhanced productivity, efficiency, and job creation perspective.’

Ashurst adds: ‘It promises to be an exciting 12 months ahead and we’re fully geared for growth to combat the 50 000 tonnes of waste tyres in the UK each year.’

Since the landfilling of tyres was banned in 2006, recycling rates have shot up. Today, government figures indicate that almost all UK tyres are collected for recycling or reuse. The recycling rate across Europe is between 93% and 95%.