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Kuwait to turn “Tire Graveyard” dump into new residential city, country announces

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Kuwait announced on Sunday their plans to transform what was once a “tire graveyard” into a new residential city.

The 2-square-kilometre (0.7-square-mile) dump in the north of the oil-rich Gulf country was where tires went to die, a total of more than 40 million tires are there today. Seventeen years of tire dumping and three massive fires between 2012 and 2020 sparked environmental concerns, prompting the authorities to shut it down for good.

“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. “Today the area is clean and all tires have been removed to begin the launch of the project of Saad Al-Abdullah city.”

In past months, trucks loaded with tires have made in excess of 44,000 trips from the landfill to Al-Salmi region, near Kuwait’s industrial area, where Fares said they will be temporarily stored. He said the tires will be cut or repurposed for local use or for export, adding that storage would meet “international standards… in case of fire.”

According to Sheikh Abdullah Al-Sabah, director general of the Environment Public Authority, Kuwait plans to recycle all the tires and avoid the need for another landfill. “There is already a factory today that repurposes them, and we hope to find other manufacturer to contribute to help end the tires issue,” he told AFP.

ARTICLE: PAUL MURDOCH

MANAGING EDITOR: CARSON CHOATE

PHOTO CREDITS: ARAB TIMES ONLINE

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Paul Murdoch

Paul, 37, is from Scotland in the UK, but currently lives and works in Bangkok. Paul has worked in different industries such as telemarketing, retail, hospitality, farming, insurance, and teaching, where he works now. He teaches at an all-girls High School in Bangkok. “It’s a lot of work, but I love my job.” Paul has an active interest in politics. His reason for writing for FBA is to offer people the facts and allow them to make up their own minds. Whilst he believes opinion columns have their place, it is also important that people can have accurate news with no bias.

Paul, 37, is from Scotland in the UK, but currently lives and works in Bangkok. Paul has worked in different industries such as telemarketing, retail, hospitality, farming, insurance, and teaching, where he works now. He teaches at an all-girls High School in Bangkok. “It’s a lot of work, but I love my job.” Paul has an active interest in politics. His reason for writing for FBA is to offer people the facts and allow them to make up their own minds. Whilst he believes opinion columns have their place, it is also important that people can have accurate news with no bias.

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