KUCHING: It was an eye-opening experience for a group of post-graduates from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) after their visit to Sarawak’s largest Used Tyre Waste Management Facility (UTWMF) located in the Integrated Waste Management Zone, Matang.
The visit, led by their lecturer Associate Professor Dr Tay Meng Guan, provided them with a rare opportunity to understand the concepts of reduce, reuse and recycle which are being put into actual practice by ZHA Environmental.
The students, who are in the Green Management and Technology Master Programme, managed to learn how the tyres generated in the state were collected and recycled into useful products at the facility yesterday.
Upon arrival at the facility, the group was briefed by ZHA’s Collection Operations head Wilfred Winson on the environmental hazards of used tyre such as fire, river pollution and breeding ground for Aedes mosquitoes.
“ZHA collects about 850 metric tons (MT) of used tyres per month which is equivalent to 3,000 pieces of passenger car tyres collected each day,” he added.
In order to protect the environment, the state government through the Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB) had implemented a holistic used tyre recycling programme since 2013 and to date, has successfully collected and recycled more than six million pieces of used tyres.
Annually, ZHA collects approximately one million pieces of used tyres throughout major towns and cities in Sarawak. Using an environmentally friendly process called ‘mechanical size reduction at ambient temperature’, ZHA recycles all used tyres into recycled products for the export market.
He further revealed that ZHA’s collection centres of used tyre are found throughout the state including Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri.
The recycled products are then consumed by users domestically and in countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, South Korea and India.
After the briefing, the group was then brought for a tour where they observed the various stages and processes to recycle used tyres into separate recyclable products such as rubber crumbs and steel wires.
They were also shown how ZHA uses the rubber crumbs to manufacture rubber tiles, which are widely used for playground and gym floorings.
The educational visit ended with a visit to ZHA’s product showroom, a group photo together with the staff and exchange of mementos between Unimas and ZHA.
ZHA Environmental Sdn Bhd is the sole licensed and appointed contractor by the Sarawak government in its environmental programme to collect and recycle used tyres throughout the state.
Operating at an eight-hectare site in the Integrated Waste Management Zone in Matang, ZHA’s plant has a recycling capacity of 10,000 MT of tyres every year.
As of 2017, the company has collected and recycled 46,800 MT of used tyres which amounts to 4.68 million pieces of passenger car tyre, equivalent to the rough weight of 262 Boeing 747-400 aeroplanes.
The Natural Resources and Environment (Collection and Disposal of Used Tyres) Rules, 2012, states that disposal of tyres to unlicensed collector is illegal and if found guilty, could be fined up to RM30,000 or face a term of imprisonment up to 1 year or both.
