KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Government is partnering with the Caribbean Cement Company to remove between 1.5 and two million tyres from the Riverton City landfill.

This will be initially facilitated under a pilot project expected to last 40 days and, thereafter, fully rolled out over time.

A memorandum of understanding was signed at Jamaica House on Monday to undertake the activity, which is a collaboration of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, and the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, through the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).

Prime Minister Andrew Holness said the tyres, which have been accumulating for decades at Riverton as well as other landfills across the island, pose a serious threat to the environment mainly as a fire hazard.

Holness noted that the project is imperative to the Government’s environmental agenda, and will see the tyres being removed and transported to Carib Cement’s location in Kingston, where they will be incinerated in a managed process to provide energy.

“The Government is on a path; we are committed, and I think that this a synergetic solution to the problem of solid waste disposal, particularly those combustible types in the form of tyres,” he said.

The prime minister explained that during the trial period, the NSWMA will supply Carib Cement with five truckloads of used tyres per day.

 “Carib Cement will be responsible for the payment of costs relating to the offloading of the tyres, and the Ministry of Local Government and the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation will share equally in the cost of putting the tyres on the trucks and transporting them to the kiln,” he said.

Holness noted that subsequent to the 40 days, and seeing how the process works, “we will then proceed with a more long-term agreement”.

“The other sites, once we have this one in operation and we better understand the logistics, and the cost, then we can start to plan for the other sites,” he said.

Meanwhile, Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Daryl Vaz, said the project is an important public-private partnership that will “deal with a very sensitive environmental issue”.

He pointed out that the Government has been working to find a solution to addressing the issue of the stockpiled tyres for the past two years, noting that an average 1,000 tyres are deposited at the Riverton landfill per day, and that the Hill Run facility has also amassed about one million tyres over time.