As old tyres continue to pile up at the Haags Bosch Sanitary Landfill, the Ministry of Communities is seeking to encourage persons to take up the challenge of finding alternative uses for them.
The challenge came in the form of an advertisement, which was published in the Stabroek News several weeks ago, inviting interested persons to bid for the procurement of “End-of-Life Tyres.”
In the ad, it was noted that approximately 5,000 tonnes of such tyres are available for purchase in one lot located at the Haags Bosch Sanitary Landfill.
This prompted Stabroek News to make enquiries of those in the local used tyre industry to ascertain the possible uses of the “End-of-life” tyres.
When contacted, President of the Guyana Used Tyre Association Allan Newark stated that while many are aware of the alternative uses of old tyres, Guyana does not have the facilities or equipment to recycle them.
With this in mind, he believes the ad is “silly” and added that he would not personally attempt to purchase the tyres.
“Look, we spend millions of dollars on asphalt for our roads when we could have been using the old tyres to stretch the bitumen as is done in many countries across the world… but nobody seems to be looking into these things,” Newark said.
Meanwhile, Head of Sanitation Department at the Communities Ministry Gordon Gilkes contended that there is much research that can be undertaken by entrepreneurs to explore alternative uses of old tyres.
Like Newark, he noted that the old tyres, when ground, can be mixed with bitumen and used to resurface roads.
He further pointed out that the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST) at the University at Guyana would have previously done research where it would have ground tyres to crumb-like particles before mixing it with the bitumen to resurface sections of the Demerara Harbour Bridge.
The rubber is said to act as a binding agent, which keeps the crushed stones together, and it also allows the road surface to trap and disperse sound waves while making it more environmentally friendly.
Further research on the topic revealed that the use of such components to resurface roads, not only produces roads that require less maintenance but still allows for drainage.
The practice of using old tyres in the construction of roads is said to be popular in countries like China, Spain, and Germany as well as Guyana’s neighbour to the south, Brazil.
But apart from the use of tyres in road construction, Gilkes stated that other countries would have also sought to construct synthetic-turf playing fields that use rubber from recycled tires. These are some of the opportunities entrepreneurs can consider investing in, Gilkes said, while at the same time noting that the idea of the ad was to encourage persons to buy the tyres and invest in those areas.
Additionally, Gilkes noted that the proposed sale of the tyres is linked to the accumulation of old tyres at the landfill, where there is in excess of 5,000 tonnes being stored.
He went on to say that as the tyres continue to pile up, less storage is available. He said at one point in time, it created a situation where the ministry had delayed picking up old tyres to be dumped at the landfill. “The dumpsite had one time stopped taking the tyres even as we were receiving calls to pick up tyres around the city because we don’t have space for them,” Gilkes stated.
He further noted that not only are the tyres taking up space, but they are also both serious environmental and fire hazards.
“These tyres harbour mosquitos, which spread dengue and those viruses as well as bees… several times we have had instances where bees would have attacked workers at the dumpsite. And in terms of the fire, we all know that when rubber burns, it cannot be easily extinguished. These are all very serious risks we are taking here as these tyres continue to accumulate at the landfill,” Gilkes said.
But even as the ministry remains hopeful of finding interested persons to accept the ‘challenge’ and consider the possibilities that accompany alternative use of these tyres, Gilkes stated that the Ministry has considered moving towards recycling, not only with regards to old tyres but other materials like aluminum. “In the future we need to look more at recycling to reduce the burden on the landfill…we at the ministry can possibly look into the purchasing of a shredder of its own to commence the recycling of the old tyres in the future,” he noted.
