A Role For Old Tires

Nation's Business, Oct, 1998 by Donna Brown Hogarty

Donna Brown Hogarty is a free-lance writer in Bedford, Pa.

Here's the formula for a new product-one with so many possible uses that it could soon become a household item: Take some worn-out tires, grind the rubber into crumbs, then mix with a polyurethane binder. The result? Recycled rubber.

The mixture can be applied like cement to patch roads, for example, or to roof houses, line boats for better flotation, build access ramps for people with disabilities, or lay a track for runners. The recycled rubber is made water-resistant through a polyurethane sealing process that also increases the product's durability.

The raw material is plentiful-3 billion tires are stockpiled in U.S. landfills, according to the Scrap Tire Management Council in Washington, D.C.-and recycled rubber is cheaper than most of the products for which it can substitute.

"This is the only business I've even seen where someone will pay you to take the raw material and then someone else will buy the end product back from you," says Dave E. Emert, 49, owner of Emert Grinding Inc. in Somerset, Pa. His company developed the new recycled-rubber process and launched a division, Recycled Rubber Technologies (RRT).

Emert, a certified tool-and-die maker, credits his formulation of the idea to his strong survival instinct and his common sense. In the early 1990s, to keep Emert Grinding solvent, he had to rebuild the company by diversifying its services.

In 1991, the bottom fell out of the area's mining industry; 95 percent of Emert's business at the time came from supplying mines with drills used in bolting tunnel roofs in place. Three years later, Emert Grinding took another hit when Bethlehem Steel, a purchaser of cutting instruments and machine work, folded camp in nearby Johnstown, closing the door on roughly 75 percent of Emert's remaining business. "I was an excellent candidate for bankruptcy," says Emert, who had to cut his crew to six workers in 1994 from 23 in 1991.

To keep afloat, Emert turned to recycling-a longtime interest. In 1988, his firm had begun a sideline business sharpening blades for machines used in turning plastic bottles into scrap material for recycling.

A short time later, Emert Grinding began to sharpen the blades used by tire-scrap dealers, Then an idea hit Emert: Tires! His business instincts told him that if he could find a way to recycle these environmental eyesores, he could make a fortune-and solve one of the nation's worst landfill problems.

He sought help on various questions from consultants, including research-and development experts from Pennsylvania State University, a chemical firm in Missouri, and a polymer research team from New York. Eventually he came up with a cheaper way to scrap tires, which lowered the start-up costs for tire-scrap dealers from over $600,000 to under $100,000.

As a cost-saving measure, he bought a huge dishwasher from a prison and converted it to a mixer for the tire crumbs and polyurethane. The machine is still in use.

With six business plans behind him and $400,000 invested in research and development, Emert is poised to expand the already impressive market for his recycled rubber, Although he has never advertised, companies nationwide have heard of his product and are trying it.

Walt Disney World uses RRT's recycled-tire floor mats to reduce fatigue for ticket takers who stand for long periods. The Pittsburgh Zoo uses the recycled rubber for its walkways. And Sears, Roebuck and Co. sponsored the installation of a recycled-rubber basketball court in Detroit as part of the city's "Fight Blight" program.

The recycled rubber has also been used to make sidewalks, flower pots, and parking-lot barriers. "We can make the rubber in 22 colors, in any size, shape, or density that the client desires,' Emert says.

Emert projects that RRT's sales will reach $1 million this year, twice last year's sales. He is working on an agreement with Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., to pave the retail chain's entrances, and new clients are coming from as far away as Belgium and China. Ultimately, Emert plans to franchise and open a tire-recycling school for prospective franchisees.

Emert's ability to recover from setbacks led to his firm being named a state honoree this year in the Blue Chip Enterprise Initiative program. Sponsored by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (known as Mass Mutual-The Blue Chip Company), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Nation's Business, the program recognizes entrepreneurs who have overcome significant obstacles on their way to success.

"I believe the day will come,' Emert says, "when recycled rubber will be traded" as a commodity among investors.