The Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (Redisa) has called on the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment to get the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) to meet with it about waste tyre management.

Redisa is legally challenging the new Industry Waste Tyre Management Plan (IndWTMP), which was approved in March 2024, saying the plan will severely worsen the waste tyre crisis.

The IndWTMP lacks clear goals and timeframes, contains factual errors and assumptions, is vague, has numerous internal inconsistencies and has no budget, it argues.

South Africa produces at least 253 000 t/y of waste tyres.

Between 2012 and 2017, Redisa oversaw tyre waste management in South Africa and it diverted more than 300 000 t of tyres through a programme that created thousands of jobs and empowered hundreds of small and medium-sized enterprises.

In 2017, then Minister Edna Molewa removed Redisa through a process that the Supreme Court of Appeal found to be unlawful and based on unfounded allegations, the organisation says.

An environmental levy of R2.30 plus value-added tax per kilogram is collected on every tyre sold, and this cost is passed on to every South African who buys tyres.

However, less than half of this levy finds its way to the Waste Bureau under the DFFE.

Apart from the public health threats caused by toxic waste tyre pollution, the mismanagement is also a lost opportunity for the South African economy, because, through a well-coordinated recycling process, economic development and job creation can be strengthened considerably, Redisa says.

“Given the scale of the waste tyre problem and the urgent need to generate jobs and economic empowerment, South Africa has a unique opportunity before it, namely making an economic asset of its waste,” says CEO Hermann Erdmann.

Redisa initiated legal action against the IndWTMP in September 2024. The department, under Minister Dion George, has so far missed every legal deadline in the case, it says.

“Despite the irrationality of the published plan, and the legal action, the department is moving ahead, with tenders being issued for waste tyre processors, storage sites, depot operators and project managers for micro collectors that are incompatible with the plan,” Redisa says.

“Oversight and transparency are urgently needed. Rational, clear plans are essential,” Redisa director Stacey Jansen emphasises.

Redisa says George has so far refused to meet with it to find middle-ground on the matter, citing the ongoing litigation.

However, the legal case does not prevent discussing a possible settlement that will save taxpayers money and lead to an amicable solution, the organisation avers.

Redisa says it is hopeful the Portfolio Committee will realise the importance of engaging on the issue of functional waste management and act on the DFFE's unwillingness to engage on this issue.

“The waste tyre problem can be fixed relatively easily. But, for that to happen, oversight and a realisation of the extent of the mismanagement is essential,” says Erdmann.