Elgi Rubber is expanding its rubber reclaim operation by investing in an all-new facility for Whole Tyre Reclaim (WTR) in Sriperumbudur, located about 40 km from Chennai, Tamil Nadu
The new site is strategically located at Sriperumbudur, which is home to some of India’s biggest tyre OEMs.
Coimbatore headquartered Elgi Group has made considerable investment in the new site. “We have invested about INR 1.2 billion in the new WTR facility,” informed Shankar Vadivel, Senior General Manager, Elgi Rubber.
The move is also part of major restructuring in the reclaim sector, which will see the currently operational site based at Chengalpattu, transferred to the new bigger plant at Sriperumbudur.
“We are also transferring the machinery and production from existing Chengalpattu plant to the new Sriperumbudur site. The Chengalpattu plant has a capacity of 500 tons per month, but the new Sriperumbudur facility will have double that capacity,” he confided,
Elgi Rubber will cease operation in the Chengalpattu plant once the Sriperumbudur site becomes operational. Replying to when the Sriperumbudur site will start operation, Shankar said, “The trail production has already commenced and in another fortnight the new plant will start functioning to 500 ton capacity per month in a phased manner and it will be geared up to the production level of 1000 m.t. per month in one or two months’ time.
When asked about the reasons of moving operation from Chengalpattu, Shankar informed, “We want to increase the production capacity to 1000 m.t. per month which is not possible at the existing plant at Chengalpattu. Our Sriperumbudur plant will be a modern one and state-of-the-art facility installed with imported machinery, which will make it a less labour-intensive operation.”
In the new EPR regime, tyre and rubber recyclers play key roles in the evolving supply chain as tyre producers have to collaborate or tie-up with authorised recycling facilities meeting specific government standards in ensuring proper disposal of end-of-life tyres.
“The expansion is also in line with the new EPR for waste tyres introduced by the government and where authorised recycler plays a key role,” confirmed Shankar Vadivel.
The Indian government has introduced Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for waste tyres which refers to the obligation placed on tyre producers to ensure end-of-life tyres are managed in an environmentally responsible manner.
Elgi Rubber supplies WTR to clients like MRF, JK Fenner, CEAT, Sri Chakra Tyres, Sundaram Industries etc. The production base at Sriperumbudur would also provide Elgi Rubber with an opportunity to further expand its reach among other major tyre OEMs based close to the plant.
When asked if it plans to explore the export market, the company said, it certainly has plans to export as currently, the majority of the WTR production is consumed in the domestic market. Meanwhile, Elgi’s its other reclaim vertical, which produces Butyl Rubber at Kanjikode (Kerala) and has applications in tube production is exporting to the markets of the US, Bangladesh, etc.
