BANREC GmbH

The story of how BANREC came into existence.

It all started in 1976, when Bent A. Nielsen bought the Danish tyre retreading and rubber company Viborg Slidebanefabrik.

This was the first time he became aware of the properties of a tyre.

Before Bent A. Nielsen entered the tyre industry, he had had a career in the newspaper and printing business.

In this business it was already common practice to recycle the paper. However a tyre is a very complex thing.

It has to be able to endure high speed, wear and tear and in reality it is the only thing that keeps the car/vehicle connected with the road. Your life depends on the performance of the tyres.

So a tyre is the result of many years of product development, engineering and testing. Consequently tyres are produced to last for a very long time. And thus tyres degrade very slowly.

He was astounded to realize that worn out tyres were merely put in landfills. It was easy to see that this would create long term environmental problems.

And so the idea of developing and establishing a tyre recycling plant took shape. During the ‘80s the idea was further developed and eventually executed in 1990, which resulted in an innovation prize from the Danish engineering association. This plant was the first of 5 plants that are now operating under the name Genan in Europe and the USA.

During the early nineties Bent A. Nielsen was the initiator, together with the director of the Danish environmental agency, Jens Kampmann, to develop a very ambitious and visionary take-back scheme for worn-out tyres. This scheme still exists today and is the only scheme in the world, which prohibits burning of tyres in cement kilns etc.

When the first plant was built, it was a sister company to the world’s biggest privately owned tyre retail company called VIBORG. In 2003 this chain was sold to EUROMASTER, a subsidiary of the tyre manufacturer MICHELIN.

When the rest of the company was sold, the focus was directed solely at the tyre recycling business. And in 2007 the Danish pension fund PKA bought 48% of the shares in the company, and an ambitious growth strategy was initiated.

The technology has been continuously improved and adapted over the last 25 years and is now a state of the art technology for ELTs (End-of-Life-Tyres)

The latest development is a fine powder and de-vulcanization technology, which takes this technology to the next level – namely – a cradle-to-cradle technology for an entire waste stream.

In 2014 Bent A. Nielsen sold his shares in Genan to PKA, however he still has the rights to the technology, and the rights to build, operate and sell turnkey plants outside the EU, USA and EEA.

ABOUT US

The team behind BANREC has been working in the tyre recycling business for more than two decades.

On the commercial and administrative side, Lene A. Nielsen has worked in the tyre and tyre recycling industry since 1992. She has vast international experience with commercial activities, marketing and legislation in connection with the establishment of turnkey projects.

On the technical side Uwe Kassler has been heading the technical and engineering staff in all phases of establishing tyre recycling facilities since 1990.

Most recently the team has been one of the main drivers behind building the world’s largest tyre recycling plant in Houston, Texas, USA.

BANREC has experience in all parts of the establishment of state of the art tyre recycling facilities. We have experience with the legislation behind a sound ELT management system, including effective and efficient collection systems.

We have immense experience in project planning and execution, from preparation of tender material for the actual facility to installation of the machinery and the final test runs.

The facilities have always been delivered on time and all of them run continuously.