Tire Recycler Takes Over Colorado Scrap Pile

The Hudson, Colo. tire landfill is estimated to contain 30 million passenger tires, making it one of the largest tire landfills in the world. Under new ownership from Magnum Recycling USA, the 120-acre site is primed for a significant tire recycling operation.

Magnum currently operates facilities in Quebec and Malaysia. Its patented technology steers away from the orthodox methods of tire recycling, which include burning the tires for fuel and shredding them to produce crumb rubber used for insulation and padding.

Magnum is able to liquefy tires and then convert them into a fine rubber powder. The company is currently working at its Malaysia facility on a way to turn this powder into new tires. It is also currently producing rubber nuggets that can be used for mulch.

The Hudson facility is believed to be the largest supply of tires in the U.S. According to Magnum, a third of the scrap tires in the U.S. are located in Colorado, and this facility has been stockpiling tires for the last 25 years.

“This is a great day for Magnum and the State of Colorado,” said Magnum’s President and CEO Joseph Glusic. “We plan on making this site a state of the art facility that should be a model for the rest of the country, if not the world, to demonstrate the ability to recycle waste products into useful and viable products that actually enhance people’s lives. I am extremely excited about this acquisition which now guarantees the raw supply needs for our company for the foreseeable future.”

If Magnum is able to produce new tires from recycled material, it would mean less need for virgin synthetic rubber, which is produced from petroleum.