Mexican region collects 130 tons of tyres in three months.
Mexico Faced with a Tyre Recycling Challenge
Between September 2018 and the end of January 2019, the Directorate General (DGE) for the Environment of Torreón, Mexico, has collected 130 tons of waste tyres. These tyres have been sent to cement kilns for disposal.
Felipe Vallejo López, head of the DGE, said that the proper handling of the tyres is important to avoid negative impacts to the environment.
“The Cementos Mexicanos furnace and its emissions are within an Official Mexican Standard for the destruction of this type of waste. We had to obtain two authorisations with the Secretary of Environment of the State, one was for the municipal council to serve as a centre for collection and another to be a generator of haxardous waste. The tyre collection was handled by Pro Ambiente, which is a subsidiary of Cementos Mexicanos”, he explained.
The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) points out that in Mexico the inadequate final disposal of waste tyres has created an environmental and social liability due to both the characteristics of these waste and its slow degradation, which causes a significant impact on the environment.
Semarnat says that additionally, the country faces the open burning of the tyres and that in these uncontrolled combustion processes, emissions are generated that negatively impact the quality of the air and the health of the inhabitants.
In addition, they explain that waste tyre dumps in urban areas encourage the presence of harmful fauna and can become focus of infection.
