Mel Gibson Backs Green Rubber

9
by paige July 11, 2007
Categories: Home, People.

92906904-mel2.jpgMel Gibson has a new crusade – green rubber! According to sources, Gibson is a backer in Green Rubber Global, a Malaysia-based company that plans to invest $30 million in a tire recycling plant that will be based in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  Evidently the new tire plant will use waste-free environmentally friendly technology to produce a rubber compound that can be used to make all kinds of products – including more tires. It will also explore new ways to work with recyclers and prevent tires from going to more landfills and incinerators.

While the mission of the company seems quite genuine, Gibson’s passion behind the rubber business seems a bit disconnected. Evidently after shooting a film in New Mexico, he grew quite fond of the southwest destination. He was quoted as saying: “Hey, I’m just glad to be here and to be part of this and to watch it all happen,” said Gibson.  “I’m proud to be here in New Mexico.  I mean, we had a great experience with the film when we shot here.  This is such a great place to work.”

Well, whether this is a viable environmental issue that Gibson believes in or just an excuse to get his New Mexico fix, it looks like green rubber could be big business and help to solve a serious environmental issue.

  • http://www.cocktailorganico.com RemyC

    Cool… organic green rubber for the fetish ball!

  • http://www.caltirereport.com Terry Leveille

    CALIFORNIA TIRE REPORT
    TWICE-WEEKLY UPDATES OF WASTE TIRE RECYCLING ISSUES AND EVENTS

    Edited and Published by Terry Leveille, President of TL & Associates
    tel: 916-536-0451
    fax: 916-536-0453
    e-mail: terry@caltirereport.com

    Vol. XIII – Thursday, July 12, 2007 – No. 43

    · Mel Gibson in the tire recycling business? At a news conference yesterday, it was announced that Green Rubber Global—with the financial backing of the Australian movie star—plans to invest $30 million in a “tire recycling plant” in Gallup, New Mexico. However, the plant will be built with state and local tax dollars on city-owned property. Green Rubber Global, a subsidiary of Malaysia’s Petra Group, will pay for the technology and lease the plant.

    ”We don’t want any more tires in New Mexico going to landfills. We don’t want any more tires in New Mexico going to incinerators. We want to work with tire dealers. We want to work with landfills. We want to work with recyclers,” said Green Rubber’s president, Rick Homans. Mr. Homans had been New Mexico’s economic development secretary from 2003 until this past May when he was hired by Petra Group.

    The plant, according to Mr. Homans, will employ 150 workers at an average wage of $15 per hour. He said that this would be the first of six plants that the company plans to build in the United States.

    Petra Group’s proprietary tire recycling technology is called DeLink, “a patented chemical process the company says can devulcanize old tires and turn them into usable rubber that actually costs less than new, or ‘virgin’ rubber.”

    Vinod Sekhar, founder and president of Petra Group, said that the devulcanized rubber can be revulcanized and used to make a full range of rubber products, including tires, shoe soles, automotive components such as weather strips and hoses, and consumer products such as swim fins, grips and rubber bands.

    He added that several other methods for devulcanization are under development but that DeLink is the first that is “commercially viable.”

    California Tire Report, which has long questioned the economic “viability” claims of tire pyrolysis, gasification and vulcanization technologies—since none has ever panned out—wonders if the taxpayers of New Mexico understand what they’re paying for.

    A first question might be: where will the waste tire feedstock come from? New Mexico is not noted for generating significant numbers of scrap tires.

    A second question might be: what is the deal with New Mexico’s former economic development secretary becoming president of Green Rubber Global? Is it merely coincidence that state and local taxes are building the plant on city-owned land?

    A third question might be: is Mel Gibson’s endorsement worth the crapshoot?

    ###

  • http://www.strauss.cc Joe

    The rubber content in a tire is about 5%. How does that affect the p/l of the effort. The only other values are steel wire in tires made before 2000 other tires use a cotton belt, plus the carbon black which can only extractet if you pyrolise the material. Addressing the California Tire report about the viability of such technologies, I must say working a year with the EPA in Sacramento over this, they don’t like competitors taking away their cash flow from electronic scrap and tires. Why? The Chinese buy the electronic scrap and ship it back to China for a price couple hundreds a ton. The State of California collects the fees for any device sold to the consumer, that si suppose togo to recyclers. Since nobody really recycles back into usable materials the State gets to keep that money! Makes sense?

  • johan mong

    I stay in south africa an are looking for someone in reuse of tyers to make rubber again

  • fabian

    deverian buscar contactos en colombia para esta gran empresa como tambien vender acciones yo apoyo esta gran empresa aunque se a un estudiante univercitario pero aca hay mucha materia prima señor gibson traiga la empresa para Colombia dara buenos resultados esa es una buena idea incluso me parese bien para hacer mi tesis de grado

  • fabian

    a y si quieren operarios con mucho gusto estoy disponible
    gracias empesare a reciclar

  • Srinivasan

    we need to know about devulcanised rubber and crump

  • Pingback: Green Rubber Biz Backed By Mel Gibson, Bruce Willis, Hits Hard Times // Archives // ecorazzi.com :: the latest in green gossip

  • Pingback: Bruce Willis Sues Malaysian Company Over Eco-Friendly Rubber Deal // Archives // ecorazzi.com :: the latest in green gossip

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