Oman is currently challenged by end-of-life tires as new stockpiles continue to accumulate. The two most troubled areas are Barka and Sur. Even though Oman has functioning tire recycling programs, they are not enough, reportedly, as the scope of the problem is rather big. It is noteworthy that Oman´s neighbour, Kuwait, is also suffering from similar problem with scrap tire dumps.

Oman authorities hope to find a solution by working with a small and medium enterprise (SME) owned by Omani siblings Salem and Assad Al Araimi, Al Affia Global Industries. They will give second life to scrap tires that will be collected from the massive dumps.

The Omani company plans to recycle some 30,000 tons of scrap tires from Barka and Sur every year. This will become possible due to a special technology designed by an engineer from Muscat, P T Sivarajan.

Al Affia Global Industries will extract valuable components from waste tires such as steel and rubber. It will be possible to produce rubber crumb and export this raw material to India where it will be used to fuel some production facilities. In addition, crumb rubber will be used by the industrial sector.