Walking Forward with Rubber — Reflections on a Tire Recycling Project for Kumasi

by Adwoa Philip

As Adwoa Philip, a humanist in Kumasi, I find the idea of a tire recycling project deeply resonant with my values: sustainability, creativity, agency, and service. Turning old tires into shoes, sandals, or other useful goods offers both ecological benefits and livelihood opportunities. In imagining the implementation in Kumasi, I sense that some steps would come easier than others, and that certain parts would present steep challenges. I also see clear groups in my community who might embrace it, and ways in which the project could become genuinely beneficial here.

Among all the tasks involved, I believe collecting used tires and doing basic cleaning/preparation would be one of the easier steps. In a city like Kumasi, where used vehicle tires are often discarded or stored in scrap yards or informal dumps, it should be feasible to source enough raw material. Engaging scrap dealers, mechanics, auto shops, and waste collectors to channel used tires into the project is a practical first move. Cleaning, trimming edges, cutting flat pieces, and flattening or prepping rubber sheets are mechanical tasks that can be taught and learned with modest tools: hacksaws, grinders, shears, sandpaper, and templates. Getting local youth or artisans interested can help with manpower.

By contrast, the design, precision crafting, quality control, and finishing of final products (shoes, sandals, durable goods) may prove the most difficult steps. Transforming rubber into wearable, comfortable, safe footwear demands good tooling, patterns, molds, stitching or fastening, ergonomics, and finishing skills. Ensuring that seams don’t break, that soles are comfortable, that the rubber is appropriately flexible yet durable, that the final products are marketable and aesthetically pleasing these require skill, training, trial and error, and quality testing. Establishing standard sizes, experimenting with bonding agents or adhesives, handling reinforcements (for straps, footbeds), and managing wear resistance will all be more technically demanding. Also, maintaining consistent production, scaling up, managing waste offcuts, and ensuring worker safety (cutting, dust, fumes) add complexity.

In Kumasi, I can already foresee several groups who would support or adopt this tire recycling project. Shoemaking artisans and leatherworkers might find the project opens new materials to explore. Vocational training centers, technical schools, or polytechnic departments may use it as a teaching module in sustainable design or hands-on industrial arts. Youth unemployment programs and women’s cooperatives might see it as a micro-enterprise idea: turning waste into goods with value. Environmental NGOs and waste management initiatives would welcome it as a circular economy project. Even market traders might be interested in buying or distributing affordable, recycled-rubber sandals. Families in lower-income neighborhoods might be customers if the products are durable and cheap.

For Kumasi’s broader community, the tire recycling project could bring multiple benefits. First, environmental cleanup and waste reduction: reducing the number of discarded tires prevents breeding of mosquitos, avoids open dumping, and improves the aesthetic and sanitation of neighborhoods. Second, job creation and income: skilled and semi-skilled work in cutting, designing, sewing, finishing will provide livelihoods, especially for youth and women. Third, affordable durable goods: locally made rubber sandals and shoes could match or beat imported ones in price, providing accessible footwear. Fourth, skills development and innovation: participants would learn design, materials science, production processes, entrepreneurship, quality control all transferable skills. Fifth, community pride and empowerment: seeing waste converted into useful products instills confidence that local ingenuity can solve local problems, without waiting on external aid.

More broadly, as a humanist, I believe a tire recycling project aligns with dignity, reason, and collective welfare. It treats waste not as a curse but as a resource; it empowers people to produce and to learn. If we succeed, this project could inspire neighboring communities (in Kumasi or Ashanti region) to adopt similar ideas with plastics, fabrics, electronic waste. The symbolic value is strong: repurposing what was discarded into something productive speaks to resilience and creativity.

In conclusion, I expect the easier steps will be gathering tires and mobilizing community support; the tougher ones will lie in technical design, quality production, and scaling sustainably. The project has clear champions artisans, youth groups, vocational schools, NGOs nd multiple community benefits: waste reduction, jobs, skills, local goods. If Kumasi embraces it, the tire project could become not just a small enterprise but a model of sustainable local transformation something I, Adwoa Philip, would be proud to nurture and see walk across the city.