RPM Automotive is investing in a massive tyre-recycling plant which it claims will make it the largest recycler in Australia

RPM Automotive will invest more than five million dollars across the next five years into a massive tyre-recycling program.
Co-Founder Clive Finkelstein, who is also Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) and Managing Director, explained the investment in the program as “creating the perfect business,” where the company will eventually have a negative cost of goods sold.
“We understand the need to save our planet and we obviously want to save our planet without draining our wallets,” Clive said.
“What we have been able to do is work out a business strategy where we can save the planet and make money.”
Clive explained there are currently 56 million tyres scrapped in Australia, which equated to around 600,000 tones of waste.
RPM Automotive will leverage the resources of its current infrastructure as a major tyre importer and reseller to implement its plan.
“We currently have warehouses all around the country where trucks go out full and come back empty, so we are looking to change that so the trucks go out full and come back full,” Clive said.
“We are going to have to add a few more personnel but the concept here is that we are going to use an infrastructure that we already have and create a whole new revenue stream. We are going to create true a full circular economy.”
Clive said that as a tyre importer, the company has a responsibility to recycle its waste.
“As an importer of tyres we are deemed to be the manufacturer. As a manufacturer effectively we are a part of the problem,” Clive said.
“There are a lot of end-of-life tyres lying around. We want to try to help to reduce this problem and make some money along the way – and create products that are innovative and useful while doing it.
“There are other early adopter tyre recyclers, but what they don’t have is the infrastructure RPM has.
“We have a negative cost of sales. We actually get paid to collect the tyres. We are already selling the tyres, so to collect the tyres from our existing customers just makes sense, whether we bill them for it or build it into the original price.”
Clive believes the tyre-recycling program could even grow RPM Automotive’s existing customer base.
“More people want their tyres collected and if they aren’t buying new tyres off us already there is no reason why they shouldn’t be because our trucks are going there anyway,” Clive said.
“Being a part of the solution excites me enormously. From an environmental point of view – environmental and social – the reality is that there’s a very nice business to be had here.”

For more information, www.rpmgroup.net.au