Nonmetallics

Citing public health concerns, the government of Brazil has ordered tire manufacturers to devise a method to “destroy” as many tires each year as they sell into the market. The law has been designed to apply to both domestic Brazilian manufacturers and importers.

According to the country’s Ministry of the Environment, “importers who intend to remain in this specific field of activity must start immediately studying and deciding on the Unusable Tyre Recycling (destruction) Project they are going to use,” and then submit a proposal and put it into effect.

Specifically, manufacturers who intend to export tires into the Brazilian market must work to collect scrap tires “wherever they may be (in low-lands, shanty towns, rivers, vacant lots)” in order to receive paper work that will allow them to ship new tires into Brazil for sale. The law also applies to vehicles entering Brazil, causing auto makers to also have to enter the tire disposal or recycling business or otherwise respond to the regulation.

The law was drafted in part as a response to a rise in dengue fever cases in Brazil and a Brazilian study that found that 34% of dengue fever-carrying mosquitoes reside in scrap tires. “It has been confirmed . . . that the mosquito initially shows up in tire repair and recapping shops and in piles of tires left out in the open,” according to the Brazilian government.

 U.S. PLASTIC LUMBER CORP. EXPANDS

U.S. Plastic Lumber Corp. (USPL), Boca Raton, Fla., has announced that it has acquired Eureka Plastics of California Inc., Vernon, Calif., and Ecosource Corp., Chino, Calif.

Eureka is a recycler of plastic film product and EcoSource is one of the largest recyclers of post consumer plastic containers in California. Annual revenues of the two companies are estimated to be about $8 million in 1999.

USPL has also entered an agreement to acquire a 143,000-square feet manufacturing plant in Fontana, Calif.

USPL will operate and expand the acquired recycling operations to supply added feedstock for its SmartDeck and Carefree deck board products that will be manufactured at the Fontana facility.

“The acquisition of Eureka and Ecosource provides a critical supply of recycled plastic resins for our new California manufacturing facility and is identical to our recent expansion in Florida,” says Mark Alsentzer, president and CEO of USPL. “By combining these plastic recyclers with a regional manufacturing facility, we will have a head start on supplying our West Coast customers.”

The Fontana facility will be equipped with silos for storage of plastic flake and will accommodate up to 16 new extrusion production lines.

USPL produces plastic lumber and plastic specialty products made from recycled material. This acquisition will bring the number of facilities USPL operates to nine.