Tire recycling facility opens in Russia's Far East at cost of 350 mln rubles

VLADIVOSTOK. June 3 (Interfax) - EcoStar Factory LLC has opened a facility in Primorye to recycle old tires into rubber crumb with annual capacity of 10,000 tonnes, the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (FEDC) reported.

The investor spent more than 350 million rubles on the project in the Primorye priority development area under an agreement with the FEDC.

"Vladivostok, as the most automotive city in Russia, needs a large facility to recycle scrap tires. The whole of Primorye also has a shortage in tire recycling. [...] Now, the facility located 20 km from Vladivostok, next to automobile, railway and marine transport routes, is the largest in the Far East," EcoStar Factory CEO Gleb Yunitsyn was quoted as saying in the press release.

The plant was initially scheduled to open in August 2023. The cost of the first phase was previously estimated at 426.6 million rubles, of which the investor was supposed to put in 116.6 million rubles of their own money. The rest was expected to be financed under the Russian Economic Development Ministry's programs.

Rubber crumb is often used in building sports infrastructure, such as running tracks, recreational areas and playgrounds. There are also plans to use the plant's products in construction of roads in the region.

EcoStar Factory was registered in Volno-Nadezhdinskoye, Primorye in 2015, data from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities showed. Its business is "production of other rubber products." The company's founders and equal owners are the president of the Clean Primorye association, Sergei Lazarev and the CEO and co-owner of Vladivostok-based DEK Recycling LLC, Mikhail Gnedenkov, who also co-owns several companies that collect and recycle waste on Sakhalin Island and in Primorye.