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Non-Tech : LDSR - LANDSTAR INC. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sawdusty who wrote (32)	6/30/1999 3:40:00 AM
From: CIMA	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95

February 8, 1999 amcity.com New recycler eyes Dayton Firm to test technology on tires at local facility John Niehaus News Staff Reporter An Arizona company is considering Dayton for the construction of a multimillion-dollar rubber- recycling plant to be built in Ohio. But Dayton has already been selected to be the location of a more than $1 million test and demonstration facility for the company, which is bringing a rubber-recycling technology now used in China to North America for the first time. Despite attempts to commercialize tire recycling, tire manufacturers now only use a small portion of recycled rubber in their products because tires made from reused materials wear out faster. But Landstar claims to now own a technology that will make recycled rubber -- called reactivated rubber -- as competitive as its original version. Officials from Tucson, Ariz.-based Landstar Inc. were in Dayton last week looking at sites for the test facility, which could end up serving as a long-term laboratory or product development facility for the company. "(The Dayton plant) will be basically a demonstration facility to demonstrate the commercial viability of the reactivation capability," said Landstar's Elroy Fimrite. "To give a comfort level to potential U.S. customers, we're setting up this small plant." Landstar is finalizing plans to lease about 5,000-square feet to hold equipment, which could cost between $250,000 and $1 million. Landstar has not determined exactly how many people will be employed at the demonstration plant or what will become of the plant once customers are convinced of the company's technology. "Depending on the nature of the direction of the company, we expect that the pilot plant facility may become a long-term product development facility, sort of a development lab," Fimrite said. Details about the large plant are also sketchy, though the Ohio plant would be one of four regional plants Landstar projects it will need to serve North America. If Landstar's technology proves to work, the company won't have a shortage of material: there are an estimated 800 million used tires in landfills, down from 2 billion a few years ago. Landstar estimates another 300 million used tires are discarded every year in North America, while each industrial country in Western Europe, Southeast Asia and China adds 50 million more a year. Dayton is a leading contender for the plant because of its reputation with materials development and has the skilled workers needed for the plant. But Dayton, Fimrite said, has one major disadvantage: the Dayton International Airport. "The airlines want an extra $500 to fly to Dayton rather than Columbus," Fimrite said. "And I have no idea why that is." The technology used to recycle rubber involves breaking the product down using chemicals, and then extracting the original rubber material. The process is reverse of what goes into making rubber useable for commercial purposes, but other entrepreneurs have failed to bring the process to market. Convincing customers may be a challenge for Landstar, a publicly traded company listed on Nasdaq's Over the Counter Bulletin Board as LDSR. Mary Manley, manager of corporate issues and community relations for Akron-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., said other companies have claimed to be able to recover rubber, but no one has succeeded in the past. "But that isn't to say they can't do it," Manley said. "But you have to be careful with this, as a lot of companies come and go. But our policy is we don't discount any potential uses." The revitalized rubber can be used for the manufacture of new tires and other rubber products, Fimrite said. Further research and development could show additional uses for the revitalized rubber. Landstar is moving forward following the recent acquisition of Rebound Rubber, a private company that along with another company called United Trans-Western share rights to the technology being used to recycle rubber. United Trans-Western, of Victoria, British Columbia, trades on the Canadian Dealer Network under the symbol UTWI. Week of February 8, 1999 \| Leading Stories \| Top of the page