In 1990, the engineers of the Charles Lawrence Group discovered that the rubber used for truck tyres has ideal properties for manufacturing many types of synthetic sports and playground surfaces.

The following year, the group opened a £1.5 million plant which pioneered the conversion of scrap commercial-vehicle tyres into rubber granules.

Up to 350,000 tyres a year

Since its first commissioning the recycling plant has continually been redesigned, upgraded and optimised to ensure reliability and minimise downtime. Virtually all the very-heavy-duty machinery now used there has been designed and developed in-house, and is now marketed externally for tyre and other recycling applications.
The current capacity is around 17,500 tons of tyres a year - or about 350,000 individual casings - from which we produce some 10,000 tons a year of rubber granules. By-products are scrap steel and textile fibres from the tyre beads and reinforcement, which are also recycled.

Environmental benefits

Old tyres are one of the most intractable scrap products of the modern age because of their bulk and virtual indestructibility. Disposal by landfill or by incineration has negative effects on the environment. By recycling tyres into useful secondary raw materials the Charles Lawrence group makes a significant contribution to environmental clean-up.