The Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade will start refurbishing and reusing heavy truck tyres, Minister Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour announced Wednesday in an official statement. The project, a joint effort of the Industry Council for Technology and Innovation, the Trade Union Federation, and the University of Rostock in Germany, is expected to increase the productivity and competitiveness of the industrial sector, Abdel Nour said. Retreading old tyres costs 60% less than producing new tyres, and uses 40% less energy. Mounir said he expects the venture to attract new investments in the field of tyre retreading, create job opportunities, and reduce waste and environmental impact. Hassan Abdelmaged, chairman of the Egyptian Organization for Standards and Quality, said that the authority will be cooperating with the Egyptian National Cleaner Production Center to provide technical assistance for Egyptian companies who want to invest in this sector. Ali Abu-Sena, the executive director of the Egyptian National Cleaner Production Centre, which was established in 2005 by the Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade to promote green technologies, said that they have already started the training programmes for the engineers who are assigned to implement the project. The centre also plans to conduct an economic and technical feasibility study.
