Bolder investing $40M in Indiana recycling project

Bolder Industries Inc., a producer of sustainable raw materials from scrap tires, has purchased a 66,000-square-foot Pyrolyx USA Indiana production facility in Terre Haute, Ind., for Bolder's proprietary scrap tire recycling processes.

Terms of the transaction were not immediately known.

The facility, intended to meet customer demand for sustainable oils and carbon blacks by early 2023, will be retrofitted using an initial $40 million investment.

The plant is expected to create about 40 jobs in western Indiana, and capacity is estimated to increase three-fold for Bolder when production begins — diverting about 3 million tires from landfills or burning.

"As a native Hoosier, it's incredibly rewarding to come back to my home state and revive a great concept and facility," said Bolder Industries CEO Tony Wibbeler. "The Terre Haute facility is in an excellent location and has great elements that complement our proprietary technology and process. This purchase enables us to expand our capacity to meet current customer demand now and provides for future growth."

According to the company, the unique Bolder process takes feedstock scrap tires and uses 98 percent of the material, with about 75 percent of the solids and liquids extracted from the recycled tires making their way back into new tires, manufactured rubber products and plastics.

Customers who purchase BolderBlack and BolderOil have an instantaneous leg up in their sustainability portfolio, according to Bolder, as both the carbon black and oil reduce greenhouse gas emissions, water and power usage required for the finished product — tires, rubber goods or petrochemicals.

Bolder said it will lean on a partnership with Pittsburgh-based Liberty Tire Recycling LLC for the operation, with Liberty providing and categorizing the feedstock scrap tires for Bolder.

The location, previously owned by Pyrolyx USA Indiana, ceased operations in 2020 when the company went bankrupt.

Boulder, Colo.-based Bolder said the Terre Haute retrofits will mirror a similar project in Maryville, Miss., installed in 2014, a facility that now runs 24 hours a day in the production of sustainable raw materials for circular economies.

Bolder began operations in 2011.