Group CNJ is expanding its tyre recycling beyond India with a new recycling operation in Melbourne with Fornnax Technology.
Group CNJ is investing $3.5 million in a greenfield tyre shredding site in Australia as part of its strategy to expand its footprint in the overseas market.
Headquartered in Ahmedabad, India, Group CNJ is a prominent name in trading, recycling, manufacturing and service sectors with interests including recycling of rubber crumb and chips, carbon black, rubber flooring and tiles.
The group has already acquired land for the proposed Melbourne tyre shredding facility which will have capacity to process 10 tonnes per hour, and an annual capacity of 55,000 tonnes. Expected to be operational by the end of March 2025, the plant will produce 20-25-millimetre steel-free rubber chips.
The group already has a presence in Australia and has been operating Tyre Collection Australia Pty Ltd since 2018.
Chetan Joshi, Managing Director of Tyre Collection Australia, and Chairman of Nine Corporation, a subsidiary of Group CNJ which has an exclusive interaction with tyre and rubber recycling in Ahmedabad, says the expansion is in response to Australia’s export ban on whole baled tyres.
“From 1 December 2021, Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water barred export of whole baled tyres, or tyres in pieces larger than 150-millimetres,” Chetan says.
“After the law was enforced, we decided to expand into the tyre shredding business in Australia.”
Group CNJ is procuring a plant which includes primary and secondary shredders from Ahmedabad-based Fornnax Technology Pvt Ltd.
The primary shredder, SR 150, and a secondary shredder, R4000, along with steel cleaning and fibre separation units, are expected to be shipped to Australia soon in preparation for installation.
Chetan says Group CNJ believes there is huge potential to grow in Australia. Up to 25 shredding companies already operate in the country, with another six expected to enter that market soon.
According to Tyre Stewardship Australia, there are, on average, about 459,000 tonnes of waste tyres that could be recovered annually.
The Nine Corporation is already operating a tyre shredding plant in Gujarat with capacity of 48,000 tonnes per month.
Chetan says Indian recyclers continue to invest in tyre recycling verticals, expanding existing capacities as well as setting up new plants to meet an increasing demand for tyre shred in the domestic market.
“Indian recyclers are setting up tyre recycling units overseas, collecting tyres, recycling them into shreds and shipping them to India for further value addition,” he says.
India is the largest importer of scrap tyres globally and considerable volumes of scrap tyres are imported from Australia. Currently, the Australian plant is functional on an SR-150 supplied by Fornnax Technology, with a capacity of ten tonnes per hour.
“We are ordering a second primary shredder, an SR-200 HD, launched at IRE 2024 (India Rubber Expo), with a tyre shredding capacity of 20 tonnes per hour,” Chetan says.
“Once the new line is functional, the capacity will be expanded by three-times to 35 tonnes per hour. The high-capacity model will also enable the recycling of truck tyres.”
The Chittoor plant
Chetan, a Chairperson of Maya Greentech, is also investing in a new tyre recycling plant in the southern part of India.
The $2 million plant, on a seven-acre plot at Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, will be operational in 2024 and will include two Fornnax Technology R-4000 HD secondary shredders.
“The new plant imports tyre shreds from the Australian plant for further value addition such as downsizing to crumb,” says Vineet Reddy, a partner in the Chittoor-based tyre recycling venture and a founding member of Maya Greentech. “The strategy of hiking capacity in Australia and investing in new plant in India is to connect the Chittoor plant with supplies from Tyre Collection Australia. Indian companies are taking advantage of expanding opportunities in the domestic market and increasing demand for tyre recycling in Australia.”
For more information, visit: www.fornnax.com