India’s first ‘Tyre Park’ – where scrap and defective tyres, and waste is turned into art – is coming up in Kolkata.
The West Bengal Transport Corporation has decided to convert dumped tyres into art installations using bright paint and innovative design.
The tyre park will soon be inaugurated at Esplanade – opposite the tram control room.
The plot around the tram control room, opposite KC Das in the Esplanade area, will be covered for the installations to be placed, along with green plants and swings for children.
The park will have a small cafe, music, and will offer space for people to sit and relax in one of the busiest areas of the city.
Some of the discarded tyres will be cut into various sizes and made into art installations; some will be converted into small chairs or flower pots and placed at various corners of the park.
Esplanade deserves as an important junction from where people take trams and buses.
The location of tyre park at Esplanade Bus depot has been chosen keeping a mind other interesting attraction like Smarnika, a stationed tramcar old tram museum which has some old tram archives.
Conversion of Art from waste :
Every year close to 800 tyres are discarded and dumped at various bus depots across Calcutta.
A team of in-house experts will work on them.
The idea is to convert an otherwise unatempt plot into something that is worth watching, where one can pause for a quick bite and a cup of coffee.
This will also help generate income out of waste material.
Disposal of used and waste tyres is not only a challenge for authorities but also takes a lot of time.
Usually, such tyres remain piled up at the bus depots, making them an eyesore.
The employees of West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) started working on such tyres and other scrap material for weeks and have been able to convert them into an eye-pleasing and colourful amalgamation.
While Kolkata is known for awe-inspiring art installations during the Durga Puja festival, they can be enjoyed only a couple of weeks.
The tyre park will add to the list of permanent art installations in the city.
Public transport in Calcutta has suffered financially, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trams have lost income owing to falling ticket sales.
Earlier this year, West Bengal Transport Corporation (WBTC) rented out unused spaces at its tram depots across the city to generate income.
The idea is to augment the non-traffic revenue.
INFO about Tyres :
Tyres can be made out of natural rubber only, and not artificial synthetic rubber.
This is because of the superior mechanical properties and elasticity of natural rubber.
Hence, it is difficult to recycle the rubber of tyres.
However, over 95% of the world’s rubber plantations are in SE Asia (especially Malaysia, Indonesia), and South Asia (India and SL).
Earlier 90% rubber used to grow in South America, but a deadly epidemic of ‘Rubber Tree Blight’ fungus (Microcyclus ulei) killed rubber plants in the Amazon basin, in the 1930s.
In order to ensure that this fungus is not transmitted to SE/South Asia, and save the natural rubber industry, today there are no direct flights to South America, from this region. (Leaf blight quarantine rules.)
Ships take weeks to reach Latin America, and the leaf blight fungus cannot survive so long on inorganic surfaces.
0 Comments