The Tire Reclaim Journey

To go from being a small startup in a challenging industry with well-established larger players takes a pioneering spirit and a vision that inspires big ideas. Craig Hunter and the team at Tire Reclaim based out of Caldwell, Idaho have both.

When Tire Reclaim officially opened its third large-scale receiving location recently in Pocatello,Idaho (with multiple satellite drop-off locations across the State of Idaho and and Oregon),– a big day, a big idea, the company’s biggest tire recycling endeavor so far – Craig and the team were able to take a step back to reflect on how their journey began. An idea conceived by a collaboration between United Metals Recycling and the leadership team at Southern Idaho Solid Waste (SISW) landfill.

“We knew a tire recycling problem existed in the State of Idaho because both of our organizations were beginning to see more waste tires and were having a hard time disposing of them. Identifying the problem was the easy part, we just weren’t sure exactly how it needed to be solved but we had a few ideas but nothing rock solid, so we shelved it for a while so we could all pursue other ventures,” Brett Ekart of United Metals Recycling said.

There were no tire collection or recycling companies in Idaho. The nearest tire collection and recycling company was 400 miles away in Oregon and 300 miles away in Utah.  Only shredded tires could be landfilled and Ashgrove Cement in Inkom, Idaho, once the largest consumer of scrap tires in the state had suspended operations.

“We witnessed landfill overflow and saw an industry facing a lot of challenges all around us, including our own facilities in Idaho and Oregon,” Ekart said.

At the same time the teams from United Metals Recycling and SISW were collaborating on ideas, Craig Hunter was moving on from another recycling venture in the compost space, and was looking for a new path to put his recycling and sustainability expertise to work, and the once shelved plans of tire recycling were reborn again.

“We started with a simple idea: to provide a better way to dispose of used tires,” Craig Hunter said. “We started small with only a few employees and knew very little about what to do with tires.”

In 2022, Tire Reclaim was founded with a mission to tackle tire waste, clean up tire piles and find reliable outlets for recycling and repurposing tires.

Starting with a portable TANA 440DT shredder, United Metals began shredding tires at their own facilities and for customers such as SISW landfills. The immediate demand proved the need for reliable tire recycling was real, needed, and potentially scalable if done correctly.

“We had one TANA shredder at the time, people were calling us once they realized we could possibly help them, and we started bringing in tires faster than we could shred and landfill,” Hunter said.

Company expansion was fast and organic and within a few months Tire Reclaim had purchased its second TANA shredder. It also created a mobile shredding division to increase efficiency and transportability of recycled materials while expanding their reach into landfills and third-party service contracts, Hunter said.

Tire Reclaim continues to explore more about landfill’s options to utilize shredded tires, particularly how different TDAs can contribute to multiple elements of production on-site, including; extraction lines, leachate areas, pads, road construction, and more. In 2023, Tire Reclaim provided TDA for use in a landfill gas extraction project producing energy for 2,500 homes in Idaho.

At the same time Craig Hunter set out to learn all he could about the tire recycling industry, what worked and didn’t, where the markets were, what was the best equipment for turning tires into a valuable feedstock customers wanted. The list was long.

Recognizing you don’t know what you don’t know, Hunter sought out other tire recyclers, even competitors and talked to them, even starting an industry focused podcast “Talkin’ Tires” so others could be a part of the learning journey.

“I went to shows, conferences, read market and technical reports, made connections and formed friendships, learning more about the players and how waste tires were being reliably managed and recycled.

“It paid off, in ways that still reverberate throughout the company” Hunter said. Those early connections have grown stronger over time and led us to new ideas and simple tweaks we can make to improve operations and how to be successful.”

Tire Reclaim began looking for ways to process tires into higher quality material and find high value outlets for the material. That inspired the company to create and commit to its ‘Road to 100’ “which is an internal company goal to have every waste tire it handles be 100 percent recycled by 2030.”

The first step, to achieve that goal for Tire Reclaim was to invest in a tire processing system from Middlebury, Indiana-based Jomar Machining & Fabricating–the Raptor series, a full system with tire cutters, grinders and cracker mills, which enables the production of tire derived fuel material; tire derived aggregate and crumb rubber for use in athletic surfaces, infill and rubber molded products.

Late last year the company purchased mold presses from LSJ Solutions to produce rubber mats for equine, sports, and commercial markets, and created a new molded products manufacturing division which will be located in the newest facility in Pocatello, Idaho, Hunter said.

With the addition of the new equipment and increased processing capacity Tire Reclaim is fitting a new 20,000 sq.ft. plant to house the new equipment.

Today, the company provides a wide range of services—including tire collection, shredding, and the production of tire-derived aggregate, crumb rubber, and tire-derived fuel and most recently molded products—serving various industries fulfilling their “Road to 100” commitment by 2030.

One thing that Tire Reclaim is especially proud of is its part in actively addressing multiple legacy piles of waste tires in Idaho, Oregon, and surrounding states.

“This journey is a testament to the power of teamwork, trust, collaboration, and perseverance we’ve built with all the stakeholders in the waste tire industry, including state agencies, community leaders, consumers, customers and the general public” says Craig.

Our journey to becoming a leading tire recycling company has been a long and rewarding one.  Over the years, we’ve grown and evolved, but our commitment to sustainability has remained the same. Today, we’re proud to be a trusted partner for businesses of all sizes, providing tire recycling solutions that are effective, affordable, and eco-friendly.

Building relationships and networking with key stakeholders has been essential in creating a pathway for the effective removal, reduction, recycling and proper management of tens of thousands of tires. Our team’s fortitude has allowed us to outlast the naysayers, and we are proud to play a role in cleaning up our beautiful Pacific Northwest, Hunter said.