St. Lucia’s SLSWMA to make Fuel from Tyres - Why is Jamaica not converting Tyres at Riverton City Dump into Fuel

“We have begun discussions with the Carbon War Room (CWR), to implement a solution that will convert shredded tires and other waste into electricity”

Chairman of the St Lucia Solid Waste Management Authority (SLSWMA), Sylvester Clauzel, who is also and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sustainable Development, explaining St. Lucia's move to convert Tyres to Coal

Plans are afoot in Jamaica by the NSWMA (National Solid Waste Management Authority) to use old discarded Tyres from Motor Vehicles at the Riverton City to make Asphalt as explained in my blog article entitled “Concrete considered for Road Repair Contracts in Jamaica - Rubber Tyre Asphalt with Solar Roadways and Glass Tile Roads a Dark Horse in the Year of the Sheep”.

But in St. Lucia, they have a different plan, one that I’d hinted at in a previous blog article. SLSWMA (St Lucia’s Solid Waste Management Authority) plans to use their old discarded Tyres filling their dumps to make Motor Vehicle Fuel as reported in “St Lucia seeking to develop alternative Fuel from used Tyres”, published Wednesday, July 30, 2014 3:21 PM, The Jamaica Observer.

St. Lucia’s Tyre Problem – SLSWMA accidental discovery of a Fuel Goldmine in Discarded Tyres

The SLSWMA has hit upon this idea quite by chance. Their Two Tyre shredders, located at Delgos on the island which they use to masticate the Tyres for storage in the dump to reduce their ability to catch afire as well as store water and allow mosquitoes to breed, broke down. By 2012, they'd purchased a new high capacity shredder SLSWMA.

But the installation costs of this new contraption meant they had to turn back to the non-functioning pair with an aim to repair their electrical systems to get them working again, to quote Minister for Sustainable Development, Dr. James Fletcher, detailed those setbacks in his 2013-2014 Annual Report to Parliament, quote: “The island’s waste disposal challenges are due to the lack of adequate financing for the upgrade of the electrical system at Deglos to facilitate the Tyre shredder and reactivation of the autoclave”. 

During this period of downtime since 2012, the Rubber Tyres on this small island have been piling up. Thus not only would the shredder reduce the stockpile of Tyres that are currently being stored in their current form, but there's the potential to make Fuel from the tyres, saving the country a great deal of money.

To this end, they begun discussion with the CWR (Carbon War Room) founded by Sir Richard Branson, also the founder of the Virgin Group of companies and a Commercial Space Entrepreneur, the main reason this article caught my eye. The CWR's is a non-profit organization that helps small island nations to adopt practices to reduce Carbon Emission in keeping with the Kyoto Protocol and advance an Alternative Energy Plans.

Good to note here this is the same St. Lucia that's suppose to have been receiving and assembling parts for Portland, Oregon based company Porteon to be shipped to Jamaica for the assembly of All-Electric Vehicles as detailed in my Geezam blog article entitled “Oregon-based Porteon to assemble All-Electric Vehicles in Jamaica – One By One”.

Tyres to Fuel – Why is Jamaica not converting Tyres at Riverton City Dump into Fuel?

Personally, I believe St. Lucia plan to make Fuel for Tyres is a crib of my suggestion as detailed in my blog article entitled “How to make Diesel and Gasoline from the Pyrolysis of Car Tyres and Plastics - Jamaican Riverton City Dump Fire Ecological Disaster solution that reduces Jamaica's Oil Bill”. Still, it's a good venture the small Island State that smaller than Kingston and St. Andrew and most likely has a very small Dump.

Interestingly enough, the US of A are already recycling Tyres for fuel, with claims by the US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) that suggest that it's the next form of Coal, producing some 25% more energy. In fact, their heating value is so high rated that the US of A is increasing its conversion of Tyres to Fuel as follows:

1.      10% of all generated Fuel made in 1991 came from 26 million Tyres

2.      45% of all generated Fuel made in 2003 came from 130 million Tyres 

So the question now begs; if St. Lucia is formulating plans to make Motor Vehicle Fuel, most likely Diesel and Gasoline from Tyres and the US of A is increasing their use of this source of Fuel that's piling up in their landfills, why is Jamaica not doing this? And why are they going the route of making it into asphalt for roads instead of making it into Fuel for Trucks and Motor Cars, thus reducing our Oil Bill?

Thoughts to ponder, dear reader....