Saudi Rubber Products Company (Sarpco) has announced it will install a new line to produce material for preparing safe sports surfaces.
Sarpco will install equipment to produce ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) granules from imported virgin EPDM.
It is in the process of procuring equipment. Production of EPDM granules is expected to begin by the end of September.
The company plans to produce initially some 3 million tonnes daily. Some of the output will be used for preparing sports surfaces with the surplus sold to consumers.
The company currently imports EPDM granules from China and the UK.
Sarpco also makes styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) granules by shredding old tires and uses them for making safe sports surfaces.
Other products the company expects to introduce soon are reclaimed rubber made from finely ground scrap rubber. Use of reclaimed rubber reduces the quantity of virgin rubber required for the company’s processes, it said.
Sarpco also plans to produce rubber sheets in rolls of 10 to 15 m length, 1.2 m width and 2 to 10 mm thickness. Its existing rubber sheets have a maximum size of 185 cm.
The company is owned by Saad Al Rashid of the Al Rashid Group.
It makes playground rubber surfaces that can be used for a variety of sports including athletics, equestrian and ball games.
Safe rubber tiles contributed 40 per cent to the sales value in 2008. Another 40 per cent came from ‘pour on site,’ which the company explained was a substance made from a mix of chemicals, rubber and EPDM that is poured at construction sites for preparing sports surfaces. Recycled rubber granules added 20 per cent to sales.
Most sales were realised in the GCC area, Jordan and Syria.

Contracts
Sarpco is currently working on two contracts with the Saudi Ministry of Education to supply a total of 2,000 sq m of ‘pour on site’ material.
It has a large order with Afrin Es for supplying 5,600 sq m of PU products.
It is also implementing an order with Bano Trading to deliver EPDM interlock yellow rubber tiles for an area of 1,600 sq m. Another Bano order requires it to supply ‘pour on site’ material for a surface of 1,500 sq m.
Sarpco has also been contracted to supply freckled interlock rubber tiles for a 301 sq m area at King Fahad Hospital.
It is working on ‘pour on site’ orders from Al Yamamah Co-Al Khobar (575 sq m), Nabatat Agriculture Co (1,142 sq m), Al Manar Al-Arabiah Est (1,360 sq m) and Al Jafr Trading (700 sq m).
Recent completed orders include ones from Sabic, AA Turki Group, SWCC-Jubail and McDonalds-Riyadh.  Several years ago it completed a contract for the palace of a Bahrain prince.