The University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) and the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (CARIRI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to facilitate collaboration on a project plant for recycling waste tyres.
Trinidad and Tobago accumulates over 1.5 million waste tyres annually, which has an economic and environmental impact on our quality of life.
The project is focused on utilising research that facilitates the use of discarded tyres to create products for the downstream rubber-based industry.
The plant is currently being built at UTT San Fernando Campus and will run for the next two years, in the first instance.
Both parties will pool resources on manpower and research capabilities, to help create products which will increase the availability of specific rubber-based products locally and internationally, increase employment, and be commercially viable.
Professor Prakash Persad, President, UTT said undertaking activities like these will expose students to countless engineering-based opportunities. He added that such initiatives are an extension of the University’s core academic functions, which include pioneering groundbreaking research.
Referencing the University’s business incubator, uSTART, he said UTT is dedicated to the task.
Hans-Erich Schulz, Chief Executive Officer, CARIRI said that working with UTT presented a unique opportunity, adding that CARIRI looks forward to “experiencing the real-world application of a potential product”, the likes of which have not been experienced locally.
At the end of the event, both organisations pledged their commitment to this project, not only to make a foray into locally unchartered territory, but to drive national development.
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