THE GENAN STORY

At the end of the 1970s, the idea of establishing a plant for the recycling of scrap tires was born. The automotive industry was booming and waste tires, which degraded slowly in landfills and in the natural environment nature, was a problem society was starting to address.

In the 1980s, new concepts were developed and, in 1990, the first recycling plant for scrap tires became a reality in Viborg, Denmark. Input capacity was 35,000 MT of mixed scrap tires (passenger car, van, truck, tractor and big earth-moving tires).

During the 1990s, the Danish factory continually developed and improved. In 2011, capacity at the Viborg plant was doubled to 70,000 MT of scrap tire input.

In 2003, based on the knowledge and experience gained from the Danish plant, Genan opened a tire recycling plant at Oranienburg, on the outskirts of Berlin, Germany. Input capacity was 65,000 MT of scrap tires a year.

Five years later, in 2008, a 70,000 MT plant opened in Dorsten, Germany. When a third German plant with a similar capacity started operations in Kammlach, Bavaria, in 2010, the Genan recycling plant strategy for Germany was complete.

At Genan, we believe that true recycling requires processing at a level where the output can substitute virgin raw material. Genan is always investing time and resources in improving and identifying new applications for its products.

Genan launched a cryogenic milling R&D project in 2011. In 2015, production of cryogenic powder was started up in Viborg. Genan now supplies ultra-fine rubber powder of uniformly high quality that can be used in the manufacture of new tires. Genan is a pioneer that offers authentic cradle-to-cradle tire recycling.

In 2014, with an ambition to advance material recycling of scrap tires in the most beneficial way, environmentally as well as economically, Genan expanded operations with its first non-European plant. Genan opened the world’s largest tire recycling plant in Houston, Texas, USA, boasting an impressive 100,000 MT input capacity a year.

In 2017, Genan launched the product GENAN PELLETS, rubber pellets uniform in shape and size and ideal for shock-absorbing playground base layers.

To be closer to the Southern European customers, Genan acquired the Portuguese Biosafe plant in Ovar in 2019. At the time of the acquisition, the plant had the capacity to recycle 25,000 tonnes of tires per year, and after an upgrade of the production facilities, the newly acquired location was up to 40,000 tonnes per year by 2020, when the name change to Genan, S.A. also became a reality.

With the new forces and laboratory in Ovar, Genan developed color-coated granulate in several sizes. The products were launched in 2021 under the names GENAN COATED INFILL and GENAN COATED TOP LAYER, respectively suitable as infill on synthetic turf fields and as top layer on playgrounds, running tracks, bicycle paths, etc.