Tustin, CA

The Quantum Group, Inc., a recycler of used automobile and truck tires, as a result of a successful six-month trial of its proprietary technology at the J. Richard Donovan Correctional Facility in San Diego, California has signed an agreement for a three-year joint venture with the California Department of Corrections.

The company is testing the water with a feasibility study before it constructs a full-scale recycling plant on prison grounds. For now, its operations are located in a 10, 000 square foot building outside the maximum security fence and employ up to 20 inmates. Future plans include a plant built on a 100,000 square foot area of land.

The Quantum Group's recycling process begins with a tire shredder, which reduces whole tires down to small pieces. These pieces are then fed into a granulator, which will remove the fabric and steel and at the same time reduce the tire pieces to crumb rubber. It then uses its patented REVULCON revulcanizing machine to partially devulcanize the rubber so that it can be re-vulcanized and used for new products.

The products currently in manufacture are playground tiles for parks and recreation facilities, athletic flooring for gyms and sports venues, rubber mats for cattle and horse barns, as well as new tires.