APM Terminals Apapa pilots use of paving blocks made from recycled tyres

To further increase its contribution to reducing the harmful effects of industrial waste on the environment, APM Terminals Apapa, Nigeria has started a pilot using paving blocks made from recycled used tyres for exterior paving. 

Studies have shown that recycling tyres helps reduce the effects of harmful chemicals on the environment. Recycling also prevents tyres from becoming breeding grounds for disease-carrying pests such as malaria mosquitoes. 

The company is running a pilot with a Nigerian recycling facility, Freetown Waste Management Recycle Limited, to use the paving blocks at the terminal and potentially recycle the terminals own used tyres in the future. Following the pilot the sustainability of the solution will be evaluated.

“We operate a large amount of rolling equipment at the terminal and therefore get through a lot of tyres on an annual basis,” explained Steen Knudsen, Terminal Manager of APM Terminals Apapa. “We are currently running a pilot to take those tyres, recycle them and compress them into paving blocks which then can be used for paving different areas of the terminal where we have pedestrian traffic.

“The recycled paving stones can be easily laid onto concrete floor, removed and recycled again in the future, which I think is quite nice. So far, 40 square metres of the pedestrian area in the terminal has been paved using the recycled-tyre paving stones with a final goal of 580 square metres.”

*Photo(L-R): APM Terminals Apapa Procurement Manager, Chinyere Adenaike; Head of Technical, Mohammed Elnagdy; and Terminal Manager, Steen Knudsen, at the paved pedestrian walkway using recycle tyres, at the APM Terminals Apapa Administrative Building Block.

Steen reiterated the commitment of the management and staff of APM Terminals Apapa to a policy of “environmental excellence" with respect to the company’s business activities and its ongoing effort to remain “environmentally responsible”. 

APM Terminals Apapa recently announced the replacement of single-use plastic bottled water with refill bottles and water dispensers, thereby eliminating an annual waste of 408,800 single-use plastic bottles at the terminal. 

Klaus Laursen, Country Manager of APM Terminals Nigeria, commented that the company takes its responsibility towards the environment “very seriously” saying: “We owe that to ourselves, we owe that to our kids, and we owe that to the future.”

APM Terminals Apapa is the largest container terminal in West Africa. With an investment of over USD438 million in equipment, the terminal has continued to introduce new innovations to help both shipping lines and landside customers achieve improved supply chain efficiency, flexibility and dependability in a cost-effective manner.