EoW November 2009

corporatenews

Greener wires for tyres

Corus grants temporary reprieve at Llanwern After being mothballed since January 2009, production at the Corus hot strip mill at Llanwern near Newport, Wales was re-started in September. 

The company said that growth in orders demanded an increase in production, but that this would not reverse the decision to make 528 job losses at the plant. Mr Tim Rutter, head of communications for Corus Strip Products UK, said: “We don’t know how sustainable this slight increase in demand will be. We will constantly review what capacity is needed; our first choice is always to use Port Talbot because of the energy situation and the cost of transporting steel to Llanwern. We also hope to increase capacity of the Port Talbot mill to 4 million tonnes per annum by the middle of next year.” Roughly 850 staff remain at Llanwern, with around 500 working directly in manufacturing. Some of these staff will be redeployed to work on the hot strip mill. Steel union Community welcomed the move and said it would be seeking a meeting with Corus to discuss the long term implications.

 Mr Michael Leahy, general secretary of Community, said that “At face value this is great news for our members in Llanwern and will bring much needed hope to the workforce. Sadly, this comes too late to save hundreds of jobs, but we will be seeking a meeting with Corus to discuss the detail of the announcement and its longer term implications.”

 Corus Group – UK Website : www.corusgroup.com A new firm, based in the UK, is believed to be the first in Europe to recycle tyre wire for smelting. Enviromise specialises in separating the steel wire from the surrounding rubber to a standard where it can be resmelted. Up to 20% of a tyre is usually condemned to landfill because recycling tyre wire is a difficult and expensive process to undertake. Enviromise business development manager, Angus Carnie, said: “Being able to separate the steel is a huge benefit to the steel industry and tyre re-processors, as the whole tyre can now be recycled. This means that 300 tonnes of waste will be diverted from landfill every week, so it is a very green alternative. We have had a huge amount of interest from people in the industry.” At the 25,000ft 2 plant the machinery can process seven tonnes of wire an hour. It strips the rubber from the wire in a process that effectively granulates the rubber, removing rubber and rust contamination to produce clean steel. The rubber waste is then used to produce children’s playground products, so the plant produces zero waste. Peter Taylor, secretary general of the UK’s Tyre Recovery Association, commented: “If it’s a viable process, the plant will be a very welcome addition to the tyre recycling process. There are a lot of high value components in a tyre and wire is one of them, so we’re delighted.” Enviromise Ltd – UK Fax : +44 121 544 5734 Website : www.enviromise.com

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EuroWire – November 2009