South Africa produces more than 10 million tyres annually and there are an estimated 60 million scrap tyres lying in stockpiles (many illegal and unsafe) or in the veld. With vehicle sales increasing year-on-year, the problem of dealing with scrap tyres and the lack of tyre or rubber recycling facilities have been escalating year after year. A solution to the problem is now in sight with the recent introduction of new legislation and a plan to establish a full cradle-to-grave process for the recycling of tyres.

The revenue expected to be generated from implementation of the Integrated Industry Waste Tyre Management Plan, developed by the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (REDISA), and which REDISA will use in accordance with the agreed apportioning of the levy, is estimated to be approximately R624 million.The Minister of the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs, Ms Edna Molewa, gazetted the implementation date of the plan on 28 November last year.

The long overdue initiative is aimed at ensuring a cradle-to-grave monitoring process of all tyres, preventing illegal dumping, preventing rubber from combusting in uncontrolled environments, and ensuring waste tyres are used effectively in recycling processes.

Tyres currently pose an environmental problem, both as pollutants and as breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other vermin; and many believe there is currently no effective technology for disposing of them in an environmentally friendly yet economically viable way.

“The informal sector traditionally has burnt the tyres, so that’s obviously an environmental nightmare,” said Hermann Erdmann, CEO for REDISA, an industry-independent not-for-profit organization. “The other problem is that if you’re putting it into water and so on, it’s also a water pollutant.”

The REDISA plan addresses several issues. According to the REDISA website, the first objective is to avoid the scrap in the first place, which will be supported by education programmes for the general user on how to maximise tyre life.

The next priority is reuse. “Retreading is used far less in South Africa than in European countries, where even – and sometimes especially – high-performance tyres are retreaded,” said Erdmann. “We need to fight the bad name that retreading has here, as well as drive the economics and volumes to make it more attractive.”

The next objective is then to remove waste tyres from the South African environment through a subsidised collection and recycling process by attaching a value to scrap tyres, as is done in overseas countries. REDISA provides a business and employment opportunity for entrepreneurs who register with the organisation to remove tyres from their commun ity and deliver them to a collection point.

A key element of the REDISA plan is that it will specifically and exclusively target small and very small businesses. The aim is to address the waste tyre problem while at the same time creating jobs in the area where they are needed most: in the informal and small, medium and micro enterprise (SMME) sectors.

It was actually this latter part of the route that has been hanging in the air for almost two years. According to the South African Tyre Manufacturers Conference (SATMC), the promulgation of the Waste Tyre Regulation Act (WTRA) has been delayed by red tape and legal hassles such as the Competition Commission of South Africa having intervened – stating that it is against the Competition Act for companies (tyre manufacturers) to speak to one another on issues such as this.

Another reason for the delay was that the new legislation was expected to create an entirely new industry, one in which the government was determined to ensure it would be open to all and not monopolised by a few big players.

Consequently, the next few months will see the rollout of a network of collection depots – about 150 in rural areas alone – and recyclers, augmented by the training and support of SMMEs such as entrepreneurs, one- and two-man operations, and the very informal sector. This support will range from advice to financial assistance, to which part of the revenue from the REDISA NPC plan will be devoted.

According to Erdmann, who has been working for several years on this project, some 5 000 people are already involved in tyre collection – many illegally – with their current objective being mostly to recover the high-tensile steel content. He estimates the plan will create approximately another 10 000 jobs as South Africa begins to fully embrace the need for recycling efforts.

Recycling

Tyre recycling is the process of recycling tyres that are no longer suitable for use on vehicles due to wear or irreparable damage such as punctures. Often, they become one of the largest and most problematic sources of waste due to the large volume produced as well as their durability.

But those same characteristics make them one of the most reused waste materials, as whole or shredded rubber is very resilient and can be reused in building projects ranging from highways to soccer fields and basketball courts, plant containers, shoe manufacture, etc.

Rubber has huge latent energy and can save on depleting fossil fuel reserves. Once the infrastructures are in place and the WTRA is implemented, power stations and paper factories may well be looking at rubber instead of coal to generate energy.

Tyres can also be recycled to produce hot-melt asphalt (typically known as crumb rubber modifier) recycled asphalt pavement and Portland cement.

Shredded tyres are now being used in landfills, replacing other construction materials, for a lightweight backfill in gas venting systems, leachate collection systems, and operational liners.

Overseas, shredded tyre material is used to cap, close or cover landfill sites daily.

In fact, the compounds produced from processed tyre scrap can be blended with virgin rubber compounds, maintaining performance while substantially reducing the raw material cost. The substantial economies of scale and value addition now make the burning of tyres entirely unnecessary.

It would appear, however, that REDISA has taken a very cautious look at the recycling part of the “route”, and just as well. Many tyre recycling schemes have been launched worldwide, with the originators – usually manufacturers of expensive tyre-shredding machinery – claiming it can be a viable investment opportunity. But there are as many tales on the Internet of such schemes having failed and plants that cost R30m to build, only fetching R3m at an auction afterward.

A component of the REDISA plan will be allocated to research and development to create environmentally sustainable recycling processes. Processes for handling scrap tyres will be prioritised based on where they sit in the waste management hierarchy.

The plan will research and support initiatives to create products such as rubber, oils, bricks and tiles from the waste tyres, and finally converting the scrap tyres into fuel.

Cost

But it will come at a price. Funding of the plan will be through a per-kilogramme levy on tyres manufactured in or imported into South Africa.

It is important to understand that, one way or another, the country will have to carry the cost of dealing with waste tyres. This approach puts the cost where it belongs: at source. If you introduce tyres into the market, you must contribute up front to the cost of the eventual disposal of the tyres.

Tyre importers and manufacturers will be charged a levy of R2.30 per kilogramme of tyre, and they will obviously pass that on to motorists and transport operators.

Udo Rypstra