Tyre recycling plan on hold

Acting Minister of Water and
Environmental Affairs, Collins
Chabane, has withdrawn the
approval for the Integrated
Industry Waste Tyre
Management Plan (IIWTMP)
of the Recycling and Economic
Development Initiative of
South Africa (Redisa) with
immediate effect.
In a statement Chabane said
the withdrawal would afford
the department an opportunity
to attend to procedural
requirements stipulated in
the Waste Tyre Regulations
(WTR).
The Department of
Environmental Affairs
promulgated the WTR that
took effect on June 20 in
2009 and the Redisa plan was
gazetted by minister Edna
Molewa in November last year.
In terms of the plan a levy
of R2.30 per kilogram would
be charged on new tyres
manufactured or imported into
the country from February 1
this year. The money would
be used for the collection and
recycling of waste tyres in the
country as well as for training
and education around the
recycling of tyres.
Over 200 000 tonnes of
tyres become waste tyres in
South Africa every year with
about 11 million dumped or
burnt illegally, according to the
department of environmental
affairs
Various organisations,
including the South African
Tyre Recycling Programme
(SATRP), raised concerns over
the plan last week saying they
had not been given enough
opportunity to comment.
According to Albi Modise,
spokesman for the Department
of Water and Environment
Affairs, the withdrawal
will now allow time for the
general public to engage with
the department around any
concerns or issues and also to
provide input into the Redisa
plan.
According to Gareth
Morgan, Democratic Alliance
spokesman on Water and
Environmental Affairs, Redisa
in its current format is doomed
to be a failure.
“The minister effectively
gave Redisa a monopoly over
tyre recycling in South Africa,
as manufactures, dealers and
importers would be forced to
become subscribers to the plan
as long as it was the only plan
approved by the Minister,” he
said. Morgan also claimed that
the government had failed to
conduct a regulatory impact
assessment to determine what
the R2.30 per kg tyre levy
would cost the industry and
what the related impacts on the
industry would be.