CECONEU (Centro de Comerciantes en Neumáticos del Uruguay) is a non-profit association that has been linking tire dealers from all over the country since 1926 with the aim of promoting the spirit of association and defending the interests of the industry. And GENEU is the Master Plan for the Management of Used Tires and Tubes approved by DINAMA through Resolution No. 451/2016. It was created specifically for the treatment and reuse of used tires.
During the development of EXPOCARGA 2023, we spoke with Lourdes Carbajal, its secretary.
What is CECONEU about?
I have been representing the Uruguayan Tire Traders' Centre for a long time, which has different activities. CECONEU was founded in 1926, it is a historic association in the country, and in 2014 it decided to support small importers in solving their problems with used tires. And it creates the GENEU Plan, which is dedicated to giving tires a second life. We are the only fully circular plan. We have an operator who will also now be in charge of the entire line.
We are very pleased because, for the first time, a small trade association has signed an agreement with a large company, such as TGA TEYMA, which will be the one, installed in the Empalme Olmos Industrial Park, to lead this process that positions small importers in this country as the greenest.
This is very important because small brands have made a great effort to support this plan, and we are therefore very pleased to be able to offer these importers this opportunity. A few years ago I remember that it seemed almost a tragedy how to recycle these tyres, especially for small companies. And today we are talking about exactly that, about a specific case.
What is the second life that can be given to a tire?
Well, part of CECONEU's commitment is not only to work with importers and companies, but also to enable companies to work with the community.
CECONEU is a Partner of UNICEF, a very important international organization, and has two lines of work with them, which is to support importers so that they can also show in physical spaces their work with tires that, although they are no longer in use, are in good condition to be installed in children's spaces. Children's facilities have been created, 24 throughout the country, in different poor neighborhoods that do not currently have any play options.
So, we do that with UNICEF, the installation is done, an architect does it, all the pre-designed games are brought, we work with the neighbors, with the community and with the municipalities, with UNICEF, and we carry out that change in that neighborhood.
In addition to that, we are now working on bringing, together with UNICEF, a tile machine, a machine to produce tiles, with the by-product that Teyma will generate in its production line.
The tires enter an industrial line and are generated with the grain. With that grain, tiles will be made; now we are going to improve the quality of these children's spaces, also installing tiles made of recycled rubber underneath them.
How can people who want to learn more about your activity get in touch? How can they get in touch?
There are 268 importers at this moment who are carrying out the GENEU Plan, which means that we are open to receiving all importers who want to join. In turn, if you are generators or generate tires, you can choose. There is one option which is to take them to be burned at the Artigas cement plant. And there is a second option, which is the GENEU Plan, which is to give them a second life and to be able to give these opportunities to the community.
GENEU Plan, they look for us on the networks, they look for us on our website and we are ready to quickly remove their used tires so that they can continue rolling, but in a different way.
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