Mayor Bensouda with some of the new equipment
By Seedy Jobe
The Kanifing Municipal Council is set to strengthen its waste management efforts with the installation of a new tire recycling plant, a project officials say could significantly reduce the growing environmental problem posed by discarded tires while creating jobs in the municipality.
The plant, developed in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, is expected to process thousands of used tires that currently accumulate in dumps, waterways, and open spaces across the municipality.
In a telephone interview on Wednesday, March 11, the mayor of Kanifing Municipal Council, Talib Ahmed Bensouda, described discarded tires as a persistent environmental hazard that the project aims to address.
“Tires are a huge menace in our society,” Mr. Bensouda said. “They contribute greatly to environmental degradation and littering, and they are an eyesore. Tires do not decompose; they can take up to 100,000 years to break down.”
He said the recycling facility would help transform waste into economic value by recovering materials such as rubber and metal wires, potentially creating new employment opportunities while reducing pollution.
Details about the plant’s processing capacity and overall cost will be announced at its official launch, Mr. Bensouda said, explaining that engineers and representatives of the United Nations agency would present the technical specifications.
“I would advise that we wait until the launch, when the technicians and the UNDP team are present, because I would not want to be wrong on the figures,” he said.
Mr. Bensouda added that the recycling process appears to involve an industrial shredding system designed to break down tires into reusable components. More technical details, including how many tires the facility can process daily and how many people it will employ, are expected to be disclosed at the event.
Municipal officials say the project could have broad economic and environmental benefits. Removing tires from drains and dumping grounds could help reduce flooding and improve sanitation, while the recycling process may generate materials for other industries.
“We expect to see social and economic impact through the circular economy,” Mr. Bensouda said. “It will create jobs, and it will also have an environmental impact by freeing our waterways from used tires. It’s a win-win situation.”
The project was originally intended to be housed in Abuko, but the location was changed because of construction costs, according to the mayor. Instead, the plant will be installed at the Bakoteh dump site, where an existing recycling facility built through a German-funded BMZ project had remained underused due to a lack of machinery.
“Most of the tires actually end up at the dump site,” he said, calling the relocation a practical solution that would allow the facility to operate alongside existing waste infrastructure.
Mr. Bensouda said the initiative forms part of broader efforts by the municipality to improve environmental management, citing a recently installed composting facility under a “Zero Waste” program.
“KMC is very committed to improving the environment and ensuring that we bring solutions,” he said, adding that the council hopes the project will generate employment opportunities, particularly for young people and women.
Still, he cautioned that infrastructure alone would not solve the waste problem.
“We can keep providing facilities,” he said, “but we also need attitudinal change. When facilities are available, people should take waste there rather than dumping it indiscriminately, because it becomes very expensive to collect.”
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