by DONNA CURRIE
Mark Hope got his feet wet in environmental issues when working for a government agency that dealt with those issues. While he enjoyed the work, it wasn’t exactly what he wanted. “I was looking for a way to control my own destiny,” he said, so he joined a startup company that handled recycled tires. While he wasn’t completely in control of his destiny, he was second in command, and remained there for 16 years.
When an opportunity arose to purchase part of the company, he took that leap in 1998 and became the owner of the division that serviced Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho. The new company became Waste Recovery West, which handles California while Tire Disposal and Recycling services the other three states.
Today, the company processes about 12 million tires a year, keeping them out of landfills and creating useful products out of most of what comes in. “All we do are tires,” Hope said. They have seven major regional operations, servicing a variety of areas from urban to rural.
“Primarily 99 percent is business-to-business,” Hope explained. They service retail tire stores, commercial truck centers, big box tire centers and large tire chains. Several of the company’s sites are open to the public, but that is a small percentage of the overall business.
The company uses route trucks to pick up tires in large cities like Portland, Boise and similar urban areas, and they spot trailers for tire collection in more rural areas, where the trailers are left onsite until they’re ready for pickup. They also do remediation work where tires have accumulated over time and they participate in “amnesty events” where cities “allow the public to get rid of four to five tires for free or at low cost.”
Tires are brought to a central processing site where they are shredded, although “really good looking tires” might be set aside for resale. Some of the shredded material is exported to Japan where it is used for energy production, while other material is used domestically in the cement industry for fuel.
Tire-derived aggregate is another market for shredded tires, and the material is also used for sub-ballast in light rail systems, below a layer of rock. The rubber chips absorb vibration and help reduce noise from the trains. Some material is also used for light road fill. Truck tires are sent to other companies that make crumb rubber which can be used to make rubber mats, like those used for horse trailers.
While the company makes every effort to find homes for the shredded tires, there are times when the market is soft and there is no demand for the material. In that case, the material is sent for proper and legitimate disposal.
With his long tenure in the industry, Hope has seen a lot of changes. “When we started, basically in 1982, we were the pioneers,” he said. “Energy recovery was our primary focus.” He had to explain to potential customers that they could use the material for energy recovery and also stay within EPA compliance. While tires are a good source of energy production, they need to compete with other energy sources, so “when gas is cheap, tires are not as desirable.”
While much of the material is used for energy, in California the aggregate material is increasingly popular, and the use of it has become institutionalized. Other states don’t have that same push to use recycled rubber for roads. Crumb rubber has even more uses, including for playing fields, colorized mulch, and as bedding material for playgrounds. “A lot of the uses didn’t exist before,” Hope said.
Rubberized asphalt isn’t just a good way to reuse tires, it’s actually a superior product that provides better performance and longevity and helps to reduce noise. It also doesn’t need to be as thick as traditional asphalt, so, while it can be more expensive, there’s a significant cost-benefit over the life cycle of the product.
Over the years, Hope has worn a lot of hats, including transportation, marketing, and government compliance, and that’s why he enjoyed the job so much – the “diversity of the scope of the job.” Of course, he had his favorite jobs, including working in sales. “You’re talking to people, developing relationships,” he said. He also enjoyed seeing the markets grow and develop, and seeing recycled tires becoming an accepted product. On the other hand, regulatory issues “can be pretty weighty.”
When Hope first started in the industry, he said it was a rather unregulated community, but now “there’s a real bar set” for insurance, compliance and other necessary parts of the business. Hope is pleased that the company survived and grew during his tenure, and he’s particularly proud of “the people and the team that helped build it.”
While he enjoyed the work, he said, “For all the things I liked about it, there are the day-to-day things that wear you out.” He considered bringing in someone new to run the company in his place, but decided that it would be better to sell the company. “You need a certain amount of energy to take it to the next level,” he said, and he’s looking forward to retirement rather than another challenge.
“The new owners have that level of excitement that bodes well for the next generation.” Meanwhile, Hope is working towards his retirement and looking forward to some well-deserved rest.
Published in the July 2018 Edition