PONCE, Pureto Rico (Jan. 5, 2010)—Phoenix Industries L.L.C., manufacturer of waste tire recycling plants and asphalt rubber blending equipment, has completed a pilot project to apply asphalt rubber pavement to a section of Highway PR 10 near Ponce.
The length of road paved with asphalt rubber was short—less than half a kilometer—but served to introduce the technology to Puerto Rico, according to Kelly Sockwell, director of operations for Phoenix Industries and its subsidiary, Phoenix Recycling Technologies.
“There's quite a bit of discussion in Puerto Rico about using asphalt rubber in major projects, but there's nothing firm at this time,” Sockwell said. Up next is a similar pilot project in the Dominican Republic, he said.
REMA, a recycling company in Puerto Rico, and the Puerto Rico Department of Transportation collaborated with Phoenix Technologies on the project, according to a Phoenix press release. Edgardo Velazquez of REMA served as team leader on the project.
Phoenix Recycling Technologies recently opened a $5.5 million facility in Las Vegas. The plant is designed largely for testing and R&D, according to Sockwell. The company is looking at projects to built recycling plants in Mexico, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, he said.