Petra Group, an environment technology company based in Malaysia, recently announced that it will locate its first United States operation in Gallup, N.M.
Petra has developed a patented technology of rubber/tire recycling called De-link that is environmentally friendly, non-toxic, requires low heat, and produces no waste, effluent discharge, or smoke. The process breaks down tire waste into a natural green rubber compound, 100 percent of which can then be resold to rubber product manufacturers. The process is the first of its kind in the world.
“I selected New Mexico for Green Rubber’s U.S. headquarters because of the state’s commitment to advanced technology, clean energy, and the leadership and pro-business attitude of Governor Bill Richardson,” said Vinod Sekhar, President of The Petra Group and founder of Green Rubber. “The Green Rubber plant we build in New Mexico will be the first of its kind of the world, and people will come from all over to see first-hand how we can convert old tires into rubber compound that can be used to manufacture all kinds of rubber products.”
This operation is expected to provide 80 new manufacturing positions initially, and more than 140 jobs once operating at full capacity. These new high-wage jobs will pay of approximately $15 per hour, significantly higher-than-average salaries for McKinley County.
In U.S. alone, more than 300 million tires are discarded per annum. Currently, discarded tires are either burnt in cement kilns or dumped in landfills and tire mountains.
“Green Rubber is another big win for New Mexico,” said Rick Homans, who will be president of Green Rubber Global beginning August 6. “This is a company that will use advanced technology to solve one of the world’s most pressing environmental problems, namely recycling the hundreds of millions of waste tires that are now mostly burned for fuel or dumped in landfills.”
Homans will be based at Petra’s U.S. headquarters, to be located in Albuquerque.
Petra will place their first U.S. manufacturing operation in Gallup on land currently owned by the City. Significant state, city and county resources have been committed to construct the facility. Once built, the City of Gallup will lease the facility to the Petra Group for a period of up to 10 years.
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