TUCSON, Ariz.-REPCO Waste Recovery expects to have its scrap tire processing plant in operation by the first of the year, now that its contract with Arizona's Maricopa County has won final approval. Maricopa County's attempt to break off its tire recycling contract with the St. Louis firm was thwarted by federal bankruptcy court which, on June 6, approved the contract and dismissed the St. Louis company's petition for financial reorganization.
REPCO had filed its petition March 22 to stall Maricopa County's attempt to void the tire recovery contract in a dispute over the company's failure to post a $1 million performance bond by a deadline the county set.
Maricopa County administers the contract under which REPCO is to collect, shred and recycle millions of used tires a year for 13 of Arizona's 15 counties.
REPCO recently posted the required bond and has agreed to process double the amount of tires to which it originally agreed.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors approved the new deal under the court's direction, but the agreement remained subject to the court's approval.
REPCO spokesman George Todt said the processing plant should be in operation by Jan. 1. Under the former agreement, the plant was supposed to have been running in April.
The program has undergone repeated delays because of financing problems with the original contractor, Colinas Tire Recovery of Coolidge, Ariz., and Maricopa County's action against REPCO after REPCO took over from Colinas in February.
Because of the delays, mounds of shredded tires have piled up at disposal and storage sites.