Western Isles install tyre baler

The council of the Western Isles, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, has introduced a purpose-built tyre baler at its Bennadrove Recycling Centre. This will compress and bale tyres received at its Rueval landfill site. The horizontal baler, manufactured by German company HSM, was modified to specialise in compressing car and lorry tyres into large blocks.

Each block contains about 170 tyres and weighs about one tonne. Council spokesman Nigel Scott said the blocks would initially be used as an engineering material for landfill site development works. He added: “There is considerable potential for other on-island uses as similar blocks have been used in other areas as a sustainable material for coastal erosion defences, road construction and land stabilisation projects.