LAM plane tyres help fight river erosion in Macaneta

Coastal erosion problems have been frequent throughout practically the entire national territory. It was in this context that the company Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique (LAM) decided to make tyres no longer usable on its aircraft available to stop land erosion along the banks of the Incomáti River, next to Macaneta beach, Marracuene district, Maputo province.

It is an initiative that arises in collaboration with the “REPENSAR” project, led by environmentalist Carlos Serra and which, despite being recent, already has a positive impact on the ground.

The project has already intervened in an extension of 300 meters, with more than 500 to go and the forecast is to conclude this year

According to the environmentalist, the project comes after a request by local authorities at the end of 2019 to stop the loss of environmental ecosystems due to the spread of the flow of the Incomáti River. “We’ve had requests over time to seek help and solve concrete problems. One of the problems is that of river erosion, which is, by the way, very serious and old, as the Incomati River was profoundly altered upstream where man caused disturbances in the flow.

When the floodgates open in South Africa, it ends up causing more erosion,” said the environmentalist.

So far, thousands of tyres have been used in this action. The idea, according to Carlos Serra, is to make the best of the situation in order to avoid the danger that was already imminent in that tourist spot. “Fortunately, we were able to intervene, first as an emergency response and then with a solution that was planned ahead and our technique evolved.

So, at the core is the tyre and then we combine it with other construction debris that we obtain,” explained Serra. At the moment, the project has already intervened in an extension of 300 meters, with more than 500 to go and the forecast is to conclude this year. “We still need to fill in two sections, but the most critical areas have already been covered.”

But how did the partnership with LAM come about? “LAM has tyres and didn’t know what to do with them. The top management looked at this as a problem for them, so the vision of the circular economy allowed us to look at what was happening and presented this to us as a solution,” said the project sponsor, adding that “thanks to LAM’s gesture as well as other companies’, it was possible to carry out this intervention”.

Maputo, 4th of October 2024