Exeter Energy Tire Incinerator Plant

 

We pulled up the long, curving driveway and stopped at the gate. A black pickup truck was parked off to the side. Uneasy, we backed down the road, trying to decide whether to go through with the mission.

We should have.

Later, as I reviewed the drone footage, I saw it — an open doorway in the back. I can only assume it led straight into the tire-burning facility. But at the time, it didn’t show up on my controller’s feed. I wish we’d at least circled, and taken a look at the rear of the plant before giving up and heading to another site.

That hesitation cost us.

If we hadn’t let a parked truck shake our resolve, we could have been the only explorers on the entire East Coast to document one of the last two tire-to-energy plants in the country — the only one in New England. It wasn’t just a massive industrial site; it was the region’s primary solution for handling end-of-life tires, processing countless loads into energy.

But we never went back.

By the time we worked up the nerve and found the opportunity, it was too late. The facility had been demolished — four years gone before we could try again. Now, all that’s left are the memories of what might have been and a few seconds of drone footage, a glimpse of a doorway we never crossed.

By the early 1980s, power plants began using waste tires to generate electricity. When shredded tires are burned at high temperatures in a controlled environment, harmful chemicals can be captured, preventing visible smoke. This concept led to the opening of the Sterling, Connecticut, Exeter Energy Tire Incinerator Plant in July 1991.

But just two months after it began operating 24/7, residents noticed something troubling. In September 1991, black soot began falling on cars and homes. Soon, the plant faced a wave of air quality complaints — people reported strange odors, sulfur smells, and the distinct stench of burning tires.

Throughout its years of operation, the plant was no stranger to controversy. It repeatedly violated air pollution permits, releasing excessive carbon monoxide — a gas that interferes with oxygen flow in the bloodstream. On top of that, the plant experienced frequent spills of petroleum hydraulic oil. One of its most serious incidents occurred on June 11, 2005, when a massive tire fire ignited in a rear pit on the property.

Despite these issues, the plant was a significant contributor to the local economy. It provided jobs for around 30 workers and stood as Sterling’s top taxpayer. Everyday, the facility consumed 23,000 tires — approximately 288 tons — producing between 29 and 31 megawatts of electricity annually. At its peak, it incinerated around 75% of Connecticut’s 3.1 million scrap tires each year. It also served as a major destination for discarded tires from New York and northern New Jersey.

However, problems persisted. In 2011, ReEnergy Holdings, a renewable energy company based in Albany, New York, acquired the facility from Boralex Inc. in an $88 million deal. ReEnergy hoped to transition the plant to burn biomass, such as non-construction wood chips, which would be more cost-effective than tires. Unfortunately, when a long-term energy contract with the state fell through in 2013, the plan unraveled.

By June 2014, the Exeter plant ceased operations. Its closure left the town of Sterling without a major taxpayer and the state without its primary tire-to-energy facility. As a result, fewer options remained for tire recycling in Connecticut. Illegal dumping surged. In that same year, the Connecticut Department of Transportation collected over 16,000 discarded tires from unauthorized dump sites.

The Exeter plant’s incinerator, once a major source of sulfur oxide (SOx), nitrogen oxide (NOx), and hazardous air pollutants, now stands as a reminder of the challenges that come with waste-to-energy solutions.

The Exeter plant generated enough electricity to power a city the size of Norwich for an entire year. This massive output came from a process known as combustion, specifically adapted into a combined heat and power (CHP) system to extract energy from waste tires.

Tires, one of the world’s most abundant forms of industrial and consumer waste, were the plant’s sole fuel source. Each year, Exeter burned approximately 10 million tires—a significant number, yet just a fraction of the global waste problem. Worldwide, about 1.5 billion tires are discarded annually, with the U.S. alone accounting for 330 million.

At the heart of the facility were two powerful boilers, installed by Standardkessel Baumgarte Holding, each with a capacity of 54 tons of steam per hour (TPH). Inside, temperatures soared to roughly 500°C (932°F), while steam was pressurized at 79 bar. The process was straightforward but efficient: as the tires burned, the heat produced combustion gases that rose through the boiler, creating steam. This steam-powered a megawatt turbine generator, producing electricity.

Once the steam had done its job, it was cooled, condensed back into water, and cycled back into the boiler to start the process again. Some facilities use greenhouses for cooling, which helps conserve water and reduces the cost of pumping.

The electricity Exeter generated was funneled into an 8.5-mile underground system and sold on the power market, making it a key player in waste-to-energy production—until its eventual shutdown.

Beyond generating electricity, the Exeter plant also produced valuable byproducts from the incinerated tire scraps. These non-hazardous materials — including steel, zinc oxide, and gypsum — were sold to various industries.

A similar facility in Oxford, California, for example, repurposes the ferrous slag left behind from burning bead wire and steel belts from radial tires, selling it to cement manufacturers. Meanwhile, the fine fly ash collected by Exeter’s filtration system was sent to metal refiners to extract zinc. The plant’s sulfur scrubber also produced gypsum, a material often used by farmers as a soil conditioner to improve soil structure and reduce erosion.

Today, scrap tires typically follow one of three recycling paths. If a tire’s casing is intact, it can be retreaded and returned to service. If it’s beyond repair, it heads to the shredder. Torn into rubber chips — often resembling wood mulch — these pieces can be dyed in bright colors for use in playgrounds or as landscaping mulch. Ground down even further, crumb rubber becomes a key ingredient in road paving materials or forms the foundation of running tracks and athletic fields.

As for the Exeter site, now that the plant has been demolished, its future remains uncertain. Since the land is zoned for industrial use, likely, another business will likely eventually take its place. Until then, it stands as a vacant reminder of the region’s tire-to-energy past.

Sources:

1. Penny, John, “Shut-down Sterling tire-burning plant still in limbo”, April 30, 2014, Norwich Bulletin.

2. Lightfoot, Elizabeth, “Tire-Burning Plant Will Let Off Steam To Foster Flowers”, February 17, 1991, NYTimes.

3. Penney, J. (2015, September 14). ReEnergy: 'Many inquiries' about Sterling tire-burning site.  Norwich Bulletin.

4. Siuru, Jr, W. (1995, February 1). "WASTE/ENERGY: Power Plants Convert Tires To Energy." Waste 360

5. Underwood, S. (2025,  January 20). "CT has a first-in-nation new law to curb illegal tire dumping. It’s lauded but has a loophole." Hartford Courant.

6. (n.a). (2007, January 31). "Woman’s Recycling, Recovery Network Extends From Connecticut To Brazil." Tire Review.