Contec S.A., a Warsaw-based company that specialises in producing sustainable raw materials by upcycling end-of-life tires, has secured an additional €5M in funding from Pruszyński, the Polish manufacturer of steel roofing and facades.
The announcement comes a few months after raising €10M from VINCI (also backed Elaia) and the Warsaw Equity Group in March 2023.
Tripling facility’s capacity
Contec will use the investment to triple the capacity of its current facility in Szczecin, Poland, and to position the company for the construction of several new commercial plants across Europe.
Following the completion of the expansion project, the Contec plant will have a nominal capacity to process 33,000 tons of end-of-life tires per year.
Contec says it will bolster Contec’s production capacity for its circular products, namely Recovered Carbon Black and Tire Pyrolysis Oil.
“For many years, we have been supporting the efforts of the manufacturing sector to promote environmental sustainability and circularity. Contec’s circular products significantly reduce the carbon footprint by more than five times compared to traditional fossil fuel-based raw materials. That’s why there is a great deal of interest in Recovered Carbon Black for the tire, manufactured rubber goods, plastics, and pigment industries,” said Krzysztof Wróblewski, CEO of Contec.
The problem
According to the company, each year, over 1B end-of-life tires (ELTs) are discarded worldwide, often ending up in landfills or being incinerated.
Improper disposal of ELTs leads to environmental issues such as land and air pollution. However, with the adoption of a circular economy, ELTs can now be given a second life.
The solution
Led by Krzysztof Wróblewski, Contec specialises in the processing of end-of-life tires (chemical recycling), transforming them into circular rubber and plastic raw materials that deliver low-carbon-footprint products for the manufacturing industry – recovered Carbon Black, recovered Tire Pyrolysis Oil, and recovered Steel.
The company claims to be the only one to use molten salt as a heat transfer medium in the world.
Since its inception in 2017, Contec has contributed to decarbonising the manufacturing industry, focused on providing a sustainable replacement for virgin Carbon Black and petrochemical raw materials.
