KUCHING, Feb 27 (Bernama) -- The Sarawak government will build tyre-recycling plants costing between RM6 million and RM8 million each in all major towns in the state to curb the indiscriminate discarding of used tyres.
Public Health and Environment Minister Datuk Michael Manyin said the recycling plants, to be operated by private entrepreneurs, could be operational in six months.
"Letters to successful bidders of the project will be out within the next few days. Hopefully they can start as soon as possible," he said after opening a waste water management seminar organised by the National Institute of Public Administration (Intan) and the Danish International Development Assistance agency (Danida).
Manyin said the indiscriminate throwing away of used tyres was one of the biggest sources of environmental pollution in the state.
"I cannot recall the number of used tyres discarded yearly but in Samarahan Division alone, 800,000 used tyres are collected yearly."
The state previously collected used car and truck tyres for use as artificial reefs but marine fisheries experts had since said that these tyres were no longer environment-friendly, even underwater and to the marine life, as they emit dangerous chemicals, he said.
Manyin said Sarawak had yet to impose the five per cent sales tax on sales of new tyres to fund the recycling in the state,
The mechanics of collecting the tax was still being worked out but the tax would be imposed very soon, he said.
Manyin said the recycling project was economically viable as the recycled components of the tyres, such as the rubber powder, steel belts and fibres had many other uses. For example, in Europe, the rubber powder was used to improve the playing surface of football pitches.
Source: Bernama.com
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