Tyre group goes full recycle

Used tyres are bundled onto a cart outside a garage in Phnom Penh yesterday. Photo by: Pha Lina

via CAAI

Tuesday, 21 December 2010 15:01 Chun Sophal

KONG Nuon Import and Export Co opened its first tyre recycling factory in the Kingdom yesterday, complimenting its 15-year-old business of importing and distributing new tyres.

Kong Nuon, General Director of the company, said the US$1.5-million recycling tyre plant, based in Ang Snuol district Kandal province, had the capacity to recycle between 36,000 to 40,000 tyres per year.

“We have launched this recycling tyre factory because we want to help our clients who have used our tyres to get more benefits,” he said.

Consumers always throw their used tyres away, but now if they return the tyres to the company they would receive a 10 % discount on their new tyres or they can hire the factory to process and retread the old ones, he said.

He added that with the American technology standards being used by the factory, Bridgestone Bandang Franchise, the quality of the recycled tyre was around 90 % as good as a new tyre.

“We hope that our production plan will be successful for Cambodian markets because our products meet international quality standards,” he said.

The company will charge between US$50 to US$80 per tyre to process medium tyres, and between US$100 and US$140 per tyre for heavy tyres.

Yuichi Asaoka, general manager at Bridgestone Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, said that Bridgestone always only uses technology and innovation to produce high quality tyres.

“Our mission is to serve our customers around the world with new and high quality tyres by recycling old tyres to new tyres at a low cost but with safety a priority and eco-friendly standards,” he said.

So Nguon, Director of So Nguon Group, the biggest shipping company in the Kingdom which consumes about 1,500 tyres per year said that the recycled tyres would be used if it is processed in accordance with proper technical principle.

“I think that establishing a new processing tyre plant is a very good action because it will enable the large consumers to use more tyres with low costs,” he said.