Arizona to clean up tyres from bankrupt recycler

ERJ staff report (TB)

Mobile, Arizona -- The Arizona Department of Administration has solicited contract bids for the cleanup of an estimated 5 million to 7 million scrap tyres at the former site of the bankrupt Envirotech Industries Inc. in Mobile, according to an agency spokesman.

Envirotech filed for bankruptcy in November 2007 after falling behind more than $157,000 on its lease payments to the state. Since then, the spokesman said, the state has spent more than $2 million so far to clean up the tyre chips and crumb rubber on the site, though the whole tyres remain there. Arsonists set fire to a pile of tyre chips on the site in October 2008, but the fire was put out quickly and caused no environmental damage, he said.

The bid period on the cleanup contract has closed, and the agency expects to award the contract soon, the spokesman said. Meanwhile, the Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Arizona State Capitol Police have seized documents and personal property at the home of Envirotech President Steve Robinson in a criminal investigation. The Department of Administration spokesman, speaking on behalf of the police, declined to comment on the investigation except to acknowledge its existence, and Robinson could not immediately be reached for comment.

From Rubber & Plastics News (A Crain publication)