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.”