More than 16,000 used tires from Galapagos have been recycled in four years

For the fourth consecutive year, the Plan for the Elimination of Used Tires of the Galapagos Islands has been complied with and it has been possible to collect and recycle, since 2019, more than 16,000 used tires from the archipelago. This is thanks to the joint actions of the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Ecological Transition and the Ecuadorian System for Comprehensive Management of Used Tires (Seginus).

In 2019, the Seginus corporation removed 6,589 unused tires from Galapagos, making the islands the first province in the country to be free of used tires, which put the ecosystem and the space of the species that inhabit the archipelago at risk.

The tires were integrated into utilization chains that avoid the excessive extraction of virgin material, encouraging the creation of new market niches, improving the environmental performance of the municipalities and generating a positive impact on the quality of life of citizens. Rubber floors and shoe soles, among other products, are made from the tires.

In 2020, under this same context, more than 500 used tires were transferred in a period of three months, from Galapagos to continental Ecuador. By 2021 they had already collected more than 11,000 tires found in the collection centers of the Santa Cruz and San Cristóbal islands, the amount of managed tires is the equivalent of a five-story building.

“The main objective for which Seginus was created was to try to give an example not only to the country but to the world, of how circular economy models work and are virtuous. Not only do they have a positive environmental effect, but also an economic and social one”, indicates José Javier Guarderas, executive director of the corporation.

Tires usually become mosquito breeding sites Aedes aegypti, which causes dengue and habitat for invasive species such as rats and mice. By giving them a new use, not only these conditions are prevented, but it also contributes to the preservation of the environment, because chemical contaminants that for more than 50 years were released from the rubber and affected the aquifers and the soil of the archipelago are avoided.

The accumulation of tires on the islands takes away a vital space for the species that live on them, in addition to polluting the atmosphere in the event of incineration or pollution due to chemical degradation of its components, which ends up reaching water sources and vegetation.

Plastic microparticles that are released from industrial products such as tires represent up to 30% of the garbage that pollutes the oceans.

Seginus articulates a recycling chain for used tires from technical centers, vulcanizers, bicycle workshops and cleaning mingas carried out between the Decentralized Autonomous Governments of the islands and the Galapagos National Park, which are later integrated into a circular economy system and equipped with a new use, in order to lengthen the cycle of the tires, transforming them into energy, floors or material for craftsmen, among other uses. (I)