MUSCAT: The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology (MoTCIT) is looking at such sustainable road building technologies like rubberised bitumen as part of its zero-carbon target. Recycling used tyres and plastic waste in road construction solves two problems in one shot. It will take care of piles of scrap which are a threat to the environment and give long life to roads.
It will take care of the nearly 45,000 tonnes of scrap tyres every year and about 2.3 million tonnes of plastic waste produced in Oman. This figure will rise with population growth and urbanisation and recycling is almost zilch, according to experts. These tyres are now sent to neighbouring countries for recycling or retreading.
At a workshop organised by MoTCIT, officials and experts discussed new methods to extend the durability of roads and adopt sustainable environmental solutions in the road sector.
A presentation by global recycle company, Tinna Rubber and Infrastructure Ltd proposed rubber mixed with bitumen has been proved to be better over the virgin bitumen due to its higher softening point which gives the roads much more stability to survive heat and rains. Also, rubber being elastic in nature extends elasticity to the roads which make it capable of handling heavy axle load. Tinna has pioneered the concept of rubberised bitumen in India and approximately 500,000 kilometres of roads have been laid across India using its modifier made out of used tyres.
Speaking to the Observer, Ruqaya bint Juma al Balushiyah, Head of Quality Control and Assurance Department at the Monitoring and Control Department at MoTCIT said, “We are aiming at enhancing institutional cooperation with relevant government agencies and companies operating in the road sector by reviewing and adopting international best practices in terms of sustainability and the use of recycled materials,” she said, adding, "The Department is also looking at high quality and free of pollution by adopting and applying the latest technologies and applications of recycling and sustainability of available resources."
Globally, there are over 1 billion end-of-life tyres (ELTs) generated annually and it is estimated that 4 billion unwanted end-of-life tyres are dumped in landfills and stockpiles. The improper disposal of End-of-Life Tyres in vacant lots and stockpiling them has serious ramifications on the environment in the long-run.
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