South African tyre waste plan finally implemented
More news about the tyre recycling world’s equivalent of a yo-yo: after being approved (November 2011), withdrawn (January 2012), declared “back on track” (April 2012), approved again (July 2012), declared “stolen” (August 2012), challenged in court (August-September 2012), and then once again put on hold (November 2012), South Africa’s REDISA plan has now been re-gazetted and come into force.
The Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa reports that South Africa’s Minister for Environmental Affairs, Edna Molewa, approved the REDISA Waste Tyre Management Plan for immediate implementation. The approved plan, admittedly, differs from the one put on hold on 20 November; unlike the previously approved plan, the current one lacks waste reduction targets. REDISA explained the situation in a press statement:
“The legal challenge to the implementation of the REDISA plan, launched in August this year, contained a long list of criticisms. The case was heard on the 8th of November, with judgment delivered on 20th November. The judge found in favour or REDISA on all counts except one technical issue regarding the insertion of waste reduction targets into the plan after the public comment period, and determined that the plan should be suspended pending a review application. However, he also suggested that the Minister could simply withdraw her approval of the plan, and reapply her mind to approving the plan with the insertion removed. This is what the Minister has now done.”
REDISA chairman Hermann Erdmann commented: “We are very pleased that the Minister has taken such prompt action to resolve the chaos that the suspension of the plan was causing in the tyre industry. Getting the plan suspended pending a review application meant that the industry would have been in a state of uncertainty for months, not knowing if the waste tyre management fee was going to have to be paid or not. A review application takes months to complete, and for all that time the industry would have had to provisionally set aside funds to pay the fee if the Review Court found in favour of the Minister, and deal with refund claims if it found against her.”
“By re-gazetting the plan,” continued Erdmann, “the Minister is following the resolution proposed in the judgment and bringing sanity back into the tyre market.”
According to REDISA, South Africa produces around 11 million scrap tyres every year, and these typically end up in landfills, dumped in the veld, or illegally burned for their scrap steel content. The REDISA Waste Tyre Management Plan’s stated aim is to establish a network of transporters to collect scrap tyres from the entire country, supply them to recyclers, and provide support and help to develop secondary markets for the recycler’s output products. In doing so, the plan is designed to create jobs, particularly in the informal sector, and create majority Black-owned small and micro businesses.
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