A tire graveyard seen from space
Tire graveyard visible from space: How Kuwait became the world’s warehouse of used tires.
The desert of Kuwait is home to the world’s largest tire graveyard, visible even from orbit.
Millions of tires from around the world have been dumped here for more than 20 years, creating a veritable mountain of waste that is comparable in size to a small city.
Kuwait has vast desert areas, which makes it possible to allocate large tracts of land for waste disposal.
These deposits have become a huge environmental problem: in case of fire, burning tires emit clouds of toxic smoke that can spread for many kilometers.
In recent years, the authorities have started to look for solutions. For example, some tires are sent to recycling plants.
There they are turned into crumb rubber for road construction and other needs.