Liberty Tire Recycling announced the acquisition of Empire Tire of Edgewater in Orlando, Florida and McGee Tire located in Apopka, Florida. Liberty鈥檚 acquisition of Empire and McGee鈥攍eading central-Florida scrap tire collectors, graders, and haulers鈥攅xpands the company’s already robust footprint in the state into the growing central Florida market. Liberty will build on the success of these two companies by bringing its industry-leading approach to collections, processing, and recycling of end-of-life tires.
鈥淭hese are great companies who have served their clients and employees well. We are thrilled to continue their legacy of excellence,鈥� said Thomas Womble, CEO of Liberty Tire Recycling. 鈥淭his is a real opportunity for Liberty and Central Florida to leverage our scale and financial position to expand operations, create new jobs, improve collections and recycling efforts, and provide sustainable solutions for end-of-life tires.鈥�
Empire Tire of Edgewater is the largest Orlando-area scrap tire collector and McGee Tire is an Orlando-area route collection business. Combined, these organizations bring decades of experience to the Central Florida scrap tire market. Empire Tire & Wheel retail stores will continue to operate under their existing ownership.
鈥淢y brother and I worked hard for over 20 years in this business. We鈥檇 worked with Liberty in the past and knew them to be good operators, but what really impressed me was their commitment to their employees.鈥� Jesse McGee, founder of McGee Tire. 鈥淭hey really care about the people like we do.鈥�
Liberty鈥檚 acquisition positions it to handle additional collections, and processing capacity in the rapidly growing Florida market and more efficiently move end-of-life tire materials into higher value markets. America鈥檚 scrap tire generation closely mirrors its population, with an estimated one million scrap tires generated annually for every million people. This is a growing challenge for Central Florida where the population is growing at more than 25% each decade.
鈥淎dding Empire and McGee to the Liberty team has created a truly world-class operation here in Florida.鈥� said David Cannon, Regional Vice President of Liberty. 鈥淲e are going to be able to keep hundreds of thousands of tires out of Florida landfills each year by finding more opportunities for reuse and recycling, all while optimizing our route collections and customer service.鈥�