Tyre import levy to help recycling initiative

The production and import
of new tyres in South Africa
will now be subject to a
R2.30 per kilogram levy
according to the Recycling
and Economic Development
Initiative of South Africa
(Redisa).
Redisa, which will
be implementing and
managing the Integrated
Industry Waste Tyre
Management Plan, said the
levy would be used for the
collection and recycling of
tyres.
The implementation of
the plan is already under
way but it is only expected
to be fully operational by
the second quarter of this
year. The plan itself was
approved by the Minister of
Water and Environmental
Affairs in November last
year.
According to Redisa,
the South African tyre
industry produces over 10
million scrap tyres every
year, which end up as an
environmental problem.
This is because with current
know-how they can’t be
economically recycled. The
organisation estimates that
between 60 and 100 million
scrap tyres are stockpiled in
the country every month.
Through the Integrated
Industry Waste Tyre
Management Plan, waste
tyres will be removed
from the South African
environment.
“The income generated
from a rand-per-kilo
levy charged to tyre
manufacturers and
importers will be used
to help stimulate startup
business around the
collection, transportation,
storage and recycling of the
waste,” said Redisa.
The basis of the Redisa
plan is to subsidise the
collection and recycling
process of tyres by
attaching a value to scrap
tyres. “Once they have a
value, individuals and small
entrepreneurs will seek out
and remove tyres from their
communities and deliver
them to a collection point.”