By Nadia Lias on
Mel Gibson is going all out to recycle tire rubber by applying his charismatic star appeal to help kick-start a venture by Green Rubber’s in New Mexico. Gibson has been a long-time crusader for practical solutions to environmental problems, so his collaboration with Green Rubber Global was no surprise. He is one of the financial backers for the enterprise — a subsidiary of Petra Group, which has invented the world’s first commercially-viable, waste-free way to recycle tires.
About 1 billion tires worldwide end up as waste each year, nearly 300 million of them in the United States. Most go into landfills or are burned, practices that are coming under more environmental scrutiny. “This is the world’s greatest environmental concern,” said Vinod Sekhar, founder and president of Petra Group. The annual tire waste includes 1.5 billion gallons of fossil fuel, he said.
Realizing the problem, Green Rubber Global, a Malaysia-based global company plans to invest $30 million in its first tire recycling plant in Gallup, employing about 140 workers, and this is only the beginning. At least six more green rubber factories are to be expected in America, where they will use waste-free environmentally friendly technology to produce a rubber compound that can be used to make all kinds of products – including more tires.
Gibson has also recently discussed contributing financially to the creation of a nature conservation zone in Costa Rica.
Copyright © 2007 Look to the Stars
