Kuwait aims to transform ‘tyre graveyard’ into new city

The 2-square-kilometre (0.7-square-mile) dump in the north of the oil-rich Gulf country was where tyres went to die -- a total of more than 40 million at the end. "We have moved from a difficult stage that was characterised by great environmental risk," Oil Minister Mohammed al-Fares said at the now empty landfill some five kilometres (three miles) from Al-Jahra province.In past months, trucks loaded with tyres had made more than 44,000 trips from the landfill to Al-Salmi region, near Kuwait's industrial area, where Fares said they will be temporarily stored.  According to Sheikh Abdullah Al-Sabah, director general of the Environment Public Authority, Kuwait plans to recycle all the tyres and avoid the need for another landfill. Alaa Hassan, head of EPSCO Global General Contracting, told AFP her firm extracts raw materials from tyres, including elements used to pave roads and sidewalks. sl/dm/hc... Via news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site https://www.news.com.au