Iona Capital, the environmentally focussed investor, announces the successful completion of an investment in Gradena Limited, a Joint Venture company between Gradsol Ltd and Dena Technology Ltd, an outstanding provider of nanotechnology solutions. Dena Technology has an impressive track record of involvement in 15 separate areas of business development: pharmaceuticals, application & manufacturing of semiconductors, rubber recycling etc. Gradena Ltd will manufacture highly homogeneous wood replacement goods from waste tyres and recycled UPVC using a patented process – nano surface intensification. Gradsol is a management consultancy company that specialises in sustainability and operational consultancy, particularly in the waste sector.
The EU Landfill Directive prohibited the whole tyres to landfill from July 2003 and was extended to cover shredded tyres in July 2006. With this ban in place, Iona Capital is helping to develop new facilities for the re-use and recycling of waste tyres. Iona’s investment is an important step in supporting tyre recycling technology that creates no harmful emissions and recycles all by-products.
Gradena is planning to process around 1200 tonnes of waste tyres in year 1 and increase this number by installing more production lines. The end product can be moulded and cut into a wide range of shapes to meet customer needs and will have specific physical and chemical properties that make it more desirable than natural alternatives. The wood replacement product will be far less susceptible to degradation from adverse conditions such as heat, cold, dampness, wind, insects and UV. At the end of their life cycle Gradena products can be recycled.
Nick Ross, Director of Iona Capital, said: “Iona is fully committed to providing funding for the development of environmental projects which help to achieve the zero waste to landfill target. This project is an excellent example of supporting leading edge technology and producing value added products which overcome the growing issue of waste tyres.”
Robert Paley, Finance Director at Gradsol, said: “This project achieves not only strong financial performance but also delivers significant environmental benefits. The main selling point of the end products is that they are much more durable than their traditional counterparts and they provide considerable additional commercial benefits. The efficient use of recycled tyres and UPVC not only reduces waste volumes; these wastes can be used to produce recyclable, new products. We even expect to have “off-cuts” and “end-of life” recovery programmes so that nothing is wasted. The products also reduce reliance on wood and other, non-, or less, sustainable construction products. Gardena’s process is eco-friendly and supports our sustainability initiate.”
Dr Brian Sulaiman, the technology’s inventor explained that the blending of nanomaterials with waste rubber and UPVC leads to the creation of an exciting new material that has a very wide range of potential properties.
For more information, please refer to WMW magazine
