The world’s largest tyre graveyard was in Kuwait and how it suddenly vanished

Would you believe it if someone told you that there were more than 50 million tires dumped in one place for over 20 years? This is what happened in Kuwait, creating the world's largest tire cemetery in Sulaibiya. This place was so huge that it could be seen from space. The tire dump brought a lot of problems. Between 2012 and 2020, three major fires occurred there, due to high temperatures.

These fires released many toxic chemicals into the air, affecting the health of nearby residents. The Kuwaiti government realized that housing the world's largest tire cemetery was not good. Especially with the important events taking place in the region, such as the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. So, they decided to take action and relocate all the tires. Between 2012 and 2020, the Kuwaiti government established several facilities to recycle tires. Satellite photos show that as of September 2021, all tires had been moved from Sulaibiya to these new recycling facilities.

Kuwait, which was once home to the world's largest tire graveyard, has completely removed the environmental hazard that was accumulated over two decades. More than 50 million tires were stacked in the Sulaibiya tire cemetery, which created a colossal black mark on the land visible from space. Such a massive tire dump brought many challenges, including severe environmental and health hazards.

Between 2012 and 2020, the Sulaibiya Tire cemetery witnessed three major fires. These fires were mainly caused by high temperatures and released a huge amount of toxic chemicals into the air that also posed some significant health risks to nearby residents. The black smoke from burning tires not only pollutes the air but also contributes to global environmental issues. The dire situation led the Kuwaiti government to take decisive action.

Because the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was fast approaching, the realization that providing housing for the world"s largest tire graveyard was an environmental hazard led the government to initiate a new major project for the relocation and recycling of tires. Tire recycling facilities were set up in Kuwait between the years 2012 and 2020 to treat and repurpose the vast quantities of tires that had been accumulating over the years.
Satellite imagery of Sulaibiya from September 2021 detects that all tires have been successfully relocated to the new recycling facilities. But the question here is,

What happened to those 50 million tires?

The tires were subjected to a process called pyrolysis, in which materials are thermo-chemically treated by heating them to about 450 degrees Celsius. In this process, the rubber material in tires was completely transformed into gas. The gas was then cooled and sold as biofuel. The black carbon obtained from this process was collected and stored, and the wires were isolated from the tire structure and recycled. It not only helped in the disposal of tires but also led to the generation of various useful by-products.

Apart from Pyrolysis the tires were initially cut into tiny pieces before their recycling, the cut rubber pieces were capable of being repurposed into flooring and roofing. This recycling effort not only mitigated the environmental impact but also contributed to the economy by producing useful materials.

1 Billion scrap tires are estimated to be generated every year all over the world. And out of that, approximately, about 4 billion reside in landfills as well as warehouses. Kuwait is well recognized to have successfully initiated removing the Sulaibiya tire cemetery, which is an ideal example for other countries facing the same problem.