Mexican cement producer Cemex will utilise used tyres in concrete production, Cemex head of engineering, Luis Mejia, said.

Apart from utilising used tyres as an energy source in some of its plants, Cemex will use them as a raw material in the manufacturing of pavement concrete. The new application of tyres is aimed at reducing the tyre waste problem in towns and cities, Mejia added.

Tyre recycling and grinding is technically feasible, the problem is in making the technology for grinding scrap tyres economically viable, and mobile so that it could be moved from town to town, Mejia said.

Mejia attended the Municipal Financing and Urban Development Summit in the municipality of San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon state, northern Mexico, on June 23 to 24, 2004. Cemex is currently developing special concretes in its Cement Technology Centre, with the objective to contribute to the environmental impact reduction, Mejia said at the summit.

The municipality of Tampico, central Mexico, supplied 1000 scrap tyres to the Cemex plant in Tamuin, San Luis Potosi state, central Mexico, in May 2004, with the objective to reduce environmental contamination. Tampico is currently negotiating with the company over the signing of an environmental agreement, under which the municipality will assume part of the costs for collection and transport of used tyres, which will be recycled by Cemex.