The world’s biggest tyre graveyard in Kuwait is now being turned into homes to house 25,000.
Over 42 million tyres at the site are transported to the recycling hub where they are turned into rubber tiles.
According to reports, one average car tyre will produce two gallons of oil when burned.
This oil contaminates everything it touches, including the soil and surface water.
A rubbery-coloured floor tile is now one of several products being made through a recyclable program aimed at turning over 42 million tyres inside a haunting graveyard in Kuwait.
The Al Sulabiya tyre graveyard in Kuwait is one of the world’s biggest tyre graveyards. Just four miles away from the city, residents were complaining of large fires releasing plumes of black smoke.
After last year’s fire, where some seven million tyres burned with smoke visible from space, the Kuwait government decided to build 25,000 new homes on the site.
So instead of burning the tyres like before, a recycling company called EPSCO Global General Trading was contracted to sort, shred and turn the scrap tyres into rubber flooring tiles.
According to reports, one average car tyre will produce two gallons of oil when burned. This oil contaminates everything it touches, including the soil and surface water.
“The factory is helping society by cleaning up the dumped old tyres and turning them into consumer products,” said EPSCO partner and CEO Alaa Hassan.
The tyres are being transported to a recycling hub in al-Salmi using up to 500 trucks a day. According to the company, about 3 million tyres can be recycled per year. The company also exports rubbery recycling remnants to other neighbouring countries.
The company is also planning on opening a factory where tyres can be burned through pyrolysis. The oils produced can be used in industrial furnaces like cement factories.
