GreenMan Technologies Inc. has agreed to become the sole producer of roofing shingles made from scrap tires for U.S. Century L.L.C. of San Antonio.
The tire recycler's newly acquired Azusa, Calif., facility will produce the shingles for U.S. Century, which will market the product to areas in the South and Midwest that experience hail damage to roofs, according to Chuck Coppa, GreenMan chief financial officer. GreenMan is installing the first production line and should begin producing the shingles in early October, Coppa said.
U.S. Century has developed a patented ``hail-proof'' shingle called FlexShake that's stamped from the tread of scrap tires, then coated and granulated to have a slate look. FlexShake shingles provide the resilience of a tire with more insulation value than traditional asphalt roofing products, according to GreenMan.
``Our agreement with U.S. Century establishes the first of what we anticipate to be multiple shingle production lines located throughout the country at other GreenMan locations in order to meet the projected demand for FlexShake,'' GreenMan CEO Bob Davis said in a prepared statement. Each FlexShake shingle production line could generate about $1 million per year in revenue, he said.
U.S. Century has been developing its shingles for several years and has no interest in entering the scrap tire business, said David Nowacek, managing partner for the company. By aligning itself with GreenMan, the firm is positioned to meet the national demand for its products.
Davis said the deal underscores GreenMan's goal to recycle more than 90 percent of each tire and realize value from almost all its components. After GreenMan stamps out seven or eight shingles from a sidewall, the tire carcass is shredded to make tire-derived fuel for the company's other customers, Coppa said.
``It gets back to that philosophy of the cow comes in and you make some hamburger and some sirloin,'' he said.
Depending on demand for FlexShake, Coppa said GreenMan could have five to 10 production lines stamping shingles in the next two years, some of which would be located in other GreenMan facilities.
``It'll all depend on where U.S. Century's demand is and where the warehousing and distribution centers are with those particular customers,'' he said. ``We think we can be pretty flexible because the anticipation is it'll just be an add-on to an existing operation.''