The removal and disposal of nearly two million old tyres currently stockpiled at the Riverton City disposal site in Kingston has now been formalised with yesterday’s signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to this effect.

Under the terms of the MOU, the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) will be supplying five truckloads of old tyres per day from the Riverton City disposal site in Kingston for incineration at the Caribbean Cement Company plant in Rockfort in east Kingston.

This would be done over 40 days, while Carib Cement in return would be responsible for financing the offloading of those trucks and disposal of the tyres at its kiln in Rockfort for the next 40 days. This waste would be converted to energy for use on the plant.

These were among the main undertakings spelt out in the MOU signed by the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), and Carib Cement. The signing took place at the Office of the Prime Minister.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness described the NSWMA’s commitment to supply five truck loads of old tyres from Riverton to Carib Cement Rockfort plant, as a major undertaking. He disclosed that the ministries of Economic Growth and Job Creation and Local Government “will be sharing equally the cost of on-loading the tyres on the trucks and transporting them to the kiln at Carib Cement”.

“After 40 days we will have a better understanding and cost structure so we can proceed to a longer-term MOU. This is a first step — not a baby step but an important step nonetheless,” Prime Minister Holness said.

He admitted that once the 40-day trial run is completed, it is his Government’s intention to move to the other dump sites where old tyres have been accumulating, with a view to having them disposed of in the said manner via the kiln at Rockfort.

Prime Minister Holness asserted that, moving forward, he would want to see collection points being established in closer proximity for ease in transporting and delivering to the kiln, as well as protocols being developed around the disposal of tyres at these collection points.

He conceded that the Government will more than likely have to make some investments in the transportation of old tyes to Rockfort, particularly moving them in bulk to reduce cost, or identify alternative means of transportation to lower cost.

Carib Cement outgoing general manager, Peter Donkersloot said the MOU is the culmination of two years of talks between his team and minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Daryl Vaz on finding a solution to the accumulation of old tyres at Riverton, which has become a fire and health hazard.

Donkersloot, whose father is actually a Dutch national, said it would take three to five years to remove and dispose of all the old tyres. He explained that his interest in helping to find a solution came following a fire at Riverton some years ago after which he and a team of experts from Carib Cement started to look at the best fix for this age-old problem.

A number of possible solutions, he said, were arrived at including shredding, but this turned out not to be feasible and was therefore not pursued.

Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie and Minister Vaz, who were present at the signing, spoke glowingly about the positive economical and environmental spin-offs from this MOU, and thanked Carib Cement for partnering on this project to clean Jamaica of old tyres.