EC$162 000 Tire Baler now operational at Nevis landfill

By Pauline Waruguru
Nevis Reporter, SKNVibes.com

Used tires at the landfill

CHARLESTOWN, Nevis – USED discarded tyres will no longer be an eye sore in Nevis following the arrival of an EC$162 000 Tire Baler that became officially operational at the Nevis Land Fill on Friday.

 At a simple but very significant ceremony held on Friday, Dick Charlebois, a technical expert from the firm that sold the Tire Baler to Nevis, demonstrated how the equipment is used.

He also, on the previous day, trained a number of employees from the Nevis Solid Waste Management Authority on how to recycle tyres and get them ready for shipping.

Speaking during the demonstration ceremony, Health Minister Hensley Daniel said recycling tyres ensures that the society is protected from diseases. He noted that the Tire Baler was handy and it comes at a time when there is an increase in the volume of vehicles on Nevis.

The Health Minister also called on the Authority’s employees to ensure proper maintenance of the equipment.

Health Minister Hensley Daniel at the demonstration ceremony

General Manager of Nevis Solid Waste Management Authority Carlyn Lawrence said the recycled tires would be shipped to Guadalupe and Martinique where they would be processed into asphalt and used for roads construction. She thanked all the partners who had made the availability of the Tire Baler possible.

Recycled tires ready for shipping

The availability of the Tire Baler was made possible following an EC$112 000 grant by the Canada International Development Fund (CIDA), EC$45 000 grant by the Nevis Island Administration and a contribution of EC$5 000 from the Nevis Solid Waste Authority.

John Guilbert, Executive Director of the Nevis Historical Conservation Society (NHCS) who sourced the Canadian grant on behalf of the Authority, said the Society was proud to have had a role in the purchasing of the Tire Baler.

He said the recycling of scrap metal is the next target that the NHCS and the Solid Waste Management Authority intend target.