Oman Environmental Services Holding Company (Be’ah) is planning to invite proposals for suitably recycling the massive quantities of waste tyres stockpiled at key locations around the sultanate, said a report.

Be’ah is the wholly government-owned entity tasked with managing the solid waste sector.

Around 45,000 tonnes of so-called ‘end-of-life’ (ELT) tyres are generated every year in the sultanate — a figure that is projected to rise in line with population growth and urbanisation, added the Oman Daily Observer report.  

For want of environmentally safe ways of disposing of this waste, these tyres have been piling up at two major dumpsites, it said.

The biggest is in Dhofar Governorate where several millions of waste tyres are currently being amassed.

The tyre dumps pose a major fire hazard as well as threaten the groundwater and surrounding environment, if not suitably and safely processed and disposed.

A tender planned to be floated next month will seek to elicit proposals from the private sector on innovative ways of maximising the recovery of commercially valuable ingredients from the waste tyres.  

The scope and objectives of the tender will be discussed at a workshop targeted at interested companies next week, added the report.