GENAN was founded in the 1970s. At that time, the automotive industry was booming and, for the first time, a problem arose: the growing mountains of used tyres in landfills were decomposing very slowly. That was the go-ahead for the construction of a plant to recycle used tyres. In the 1980s, the idea was further developed and pursued, so that by 1990 the first plant for the recycling of used tyres was opened in Denmark.

The capacity of this first plant was 35,000 tonnes of mixed used tyres.

The plant is still in operation today, and its capacity was doubled in 2011. The experience GENAN gained from this plant formed the basis for the opening of a recycling plant in Oranienburg in 2003. Shortly afterwards, two further plants were established in Germany, one in Dorsten and one in Kammlach. In 2014, GENAN finally opened its first plant outside Europe – the world’s largest used tyre recycling plant in Houston has a capacity of 100,000 tyres per year. Since 2019, GENAN has been operating another plant in Portugal.

The company’s development focuses on sustainability and exploring the full potential of ELT-based materials. This approach was recognised in 2017 with GENAN’s product innovation: GENAN SAFE rubber pellets are uniform in shape and size and are ideal for shock-absorbing playground surfaces.

GENAN is committed to a sustainable future: