Dear Editor,
Over the years a number of contractors have been constructing substandard roads that only last for a few weeks or months, and in some cases a few years. This has resulted in the wastage of millions of taxpayer dollars, but the government continues to pay the same contractors to repair and resurface the same roads.
Every month there are letters in the media calling on the government to repair, rebuild or resurface roads. I am confident that the solution to the road problem in Guyana is to establish a plant which will recycle tyres and manufacture rubberized bitumen. Such a plant would create employment for Guyanese and help the economy, since better roads would facilitate the transporting of goods from one area to another, as well as boost agriculture. Vehicle owners could sell their used tyres to the factory to help pay for new tyres for their vehicles. (It will be remembered that the APNU+AFC Government has banned the importation of used tyres.)
Bitumen is the binder in road-building, and holds together the stone pieces and other materials. However, it has its limitations because it loses its adhesive character when water falls on its surface, resulting in potholes and cracks appearing in the road. In addition, hot sun can melt the bitumen, which can travel to the surface and get stuck on moving objects on the road, while roads made out of straight-run bitumen tend to oxidize faster. In contrast, the rubber gives additional strength and increases elasticity.
Rubberised bitumen has been used in the USA from 1960, and is currently used in Arizona, Florida, Texas and California. It is also very popular in Australia for certain uses, and is increasingly employed in the developing countries of Latin America. Environmentalists in Europe, Canada and South Africa are anxious to encourage its use. Considering how cars and trucks generate such a large part of the world’s greenhouse gases, it’s easy to overlook what lies beneath them.
But under all that traffic, there are roads. And the paving material itself ‒ the asphalt, concrete, and rock ‒ and how it is placed, have an important impact on the atmosphere.
Tyres are designed to last and as such are not naturally degradable, and hundreds of thousands of tyres are being disposed of at garbage sites all over Guyana yearly.
This poses a huge problem, not least because accidental fires in stockpiled sites can rage for weeks releasing toxic fumes. The oily residue left after a tyre fire is difficult to eliminate from the environment.
Waste tyre processing is done in an environmentally friendly manner and no gases are generated. As governments weigh spending money on roads, they are asking questions about sustainability that were never considered in earlier years.
Yours faithfully,
Micah Williams
General Secretary
The People United and General Workers Union
