In Nigeria, a country that depends heavily on revenues from its oil exports, entrepreneur Ifedolapo Runsewe has identified another type of black gold: used car tires. It has created Freetown Waste Management Factory, an industrial plant dedicated to converting old tires into paving stones, tiles and other products that are in high demand in Africa's most populous country.
The idea is to create something new from something that will remain somewhere in the form of waste was part of the motivation. Waste management in Nigeria is incomplete. In villages, towns and cities, it is common to see piles of waste, and residents often burn it at night because there is no safer way to dispose of it. Tires are routinely dumped and abandoned.
Freetown relies on collectors who collect old tires from landfills. They pay 70 to 100 naira ($ 0.17 - $ 0.24) per tire. Algunos neumáticos también son suministrados directamente por mecánicos, como Akim Rasaq, que se alegra de haber encontrado un lugar donde puede ganar algo de dinero con neumáticos viejos. Most tires end up in the general sewer that clogs the drain, but things have changed.
Freetown began operations in 2020 with just four employees, and growth has been so fast that the workforce increased to 128. To date, more than 100,000 tires have been recycled on everything from speed bumps to soft stadium pavements.
It is important to support all those who recycle in our country, said Husam Azeem, founder of the Lagos Jet Ski Riders Club, who purchased the Freetown pavers for the children's play area.
