ANDERSON — Dan and Diana McKenzie have been selling new and used tires at their Anderson business, Broadway Used Tires, for 10 years.
But they always hated polluting the environment by disposing of their clients’ old tires at landfills.
So, the couple researched how they could break down the tires and recycle the materials as a way to further their income, provide a service and be more environmentally friendly.
After considerable research and planning, the couple and Anderson city officials held a ribbon cutting ceremony for their new company, Green Tire Reclamation, on Friday. The business is located at 2506 Fairview St., which includes three buildings on a property that has been empty for at least 15 years, according to a City of Anderson news release.
Work will begin in a week and a half, and over the next three years the McKenzies will hire 15 to 30 people.
The new company will break down tires and separate the metal from the rubber, then sell it to other companies to be reused.
Green Tire Reclamation will produce tire-derived fuel that can be used by power plants to produce energy, according to the release. The tire-based fuel is an alternative to using natural resources like coal.
The company will accept and recycle tires from all passenger vehicles and light trucks, said Dan McKenzie, 59. Anderson and Madison County residents can bring tires in for a $1 charge, and the price goes up from there depending on load sizes and tire types.
“Tires do not decompose,” he said. “Over 30 years, and they will still be there. We want to keep them out of landfills.”
The company already has contracts in place with scrap yards which will purchase the metal portion, and power plants which will use the rubber fuel, McKenzie said.
The company will be able to break down 2,500 tires during an eight-hour work day, McKenzie added. And they will triple that within two years with more equipment and staff, he said.
The Anderson couple employ three people at Broadway Used Tires, and have five more on staff for the Green Tire Reclamation. They will hire three more in the near future, and then bring their staff up to 15 to 30 people in the next few years.
McKenzie also wants to use this company as a way to help others. He wants to make the jobs available to convicted felons who often have a difficult time being hired and accepted in the workplace.
McKenzie says he was a felon too, having been arrested several times and convicted of driving while intoxicated. He said he now has a clean record, and he and Diana facilitate a weekly addiction recovery program in Richmond.
“After my last arrest I went to a halfway house in 1991,” McKenzie said. “I got out in 1992. One guy gave me a chance and gave me a job. Without that we wouldn’t be where we are. I want to give others a second chance too.”
Over the years, the property at 2506 Fairview St. has been an iron and steel salvage business and a storage and repair site for charter buses. It looked like a junkyard when the McKenzies began looking at the site, and the new business has turned the property around, said Anderson economic development director Greg Winkler.
Dan McKenzie said he and his wife invested about $230,000 in the project, including the purchase of land and equipment.
The City of Anderson did not provide the company with financial incentives, but offered support and assistance throughout the project, Winkler said. And the Flagship Enterprise Center helped the company create a business and financial plan, said Adam Hoeksema, a client services manager at the Flagship.
But it was the McKenzies and their business team who put the time, effort, ambition and money into the project to make it happen, Winkler said.
“This is a true example of capitalism and entrepreneurialism at work,” said Pete Heuer, the city’s Board of Public Works chairman.
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