Cement company Argos belonging to a larger Colombian conglomerate used over 75,000 tons of waste as energy source last year – this amount represents all waste, including scrap tires, that a city with population of 200,000 generates annually. Moreover, the company’s alternative fuel control system at cement plant in Cartagena uses scrap tires and helped increase co-processing capacity of Regional Colombia by 200%. Following the success, the company signed an official document in which it set forth its commitment to sustainability vowing to rely on alternative fuels, including scrap tire rubber, received via recycling.

Tomás Restrepo of Argos commented on his company’s practices saying that it was important to bring benefit not only to businesses, but to the environment as well. Argos has equipment that can meet this purpose as it was installed to guarantee safe and clean scrap tire incineration avoiding hazardous tire incineration.

Currently, Argos collects tires and prepares delivery of scrap rubber to tire recycling plants where they are transformed into fuel (TDF). Since the launch of the sustainable disposal alternative, the cement company has co-processed over 1.5 million of scrap tires, and it has the capacity to handle much more waste. Thus, Argos could serve as a major solution to waste tire problem handling 40 percent of all waste.

Article by World Cement.