The Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, Ms Edna Molewa published for public comment the draft Integrated Industry Waste Tyre Management Plan (IIWTMP) of the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (REDISA) in Gazette No 35147 of 17 April 2012.
The Minister approved the REDISA IIWTMP in a letter dated 15 November 2011 and published it in Gazette No 34796 of 28 November 2011. The approval of this plan was subsequently withdrawn through a notice in the Gazette on 26 January 2012.
The approval was withdrawn to ensure that all stakeholders and the public were given more opportunity to make comments on the proposed plan since some industry members had raised concerns regarding the consultation process that was followed for this plan.
REDISA then advertised the availability of their plan and called for comments in a range of newspapers between January and February 2012.
Comments received through this process were considered and a comments and response document was prepared and submitted together with the plan to the department on 10 February 2012. The Minister has thus published this plan in the government gazette to further afford the general public a chance to make inputs on this plan.
The benefits of an Industry Waste Tyre Management Plan include, but are not limited to, ensuring that the negative environmental impacts of tyres are minimised as well as ensure resource conservation. The intention is to ensure that the management of waste tyres follows the waste hierarchy which advocates for avoidance of waste, re-use, recycling and recovery of energy and disposal as the last option.
This will in turn curb the well-known impacts of waste tyre stockpiles such as human health risks associated with mosquito and vermin breeding as well as air pollution impacts from burning of tyres. Another hazard is the fire hazards posed by such waste tyre stockpiles. Furthermore, this approach will extend the life spans of landfill sites, especially in this age when land contestation is high and hence land availability for development of landfill sites is scarce.
The plan aspires to, through its research and development initiative, establish and encourage a vibrant recycling sector. Examples of products that can be derived from recycling tyres include rubber, oil, bricks and tiles.
Members of the public are invited to submit to the Minister, within 30 days of the date of publication of the plan in the Gazette, written comments to any of the following addresses:
By post to:
The Director-General: Environmental Affairs
Attention: Ms Nolwazi Cobbinah
Private Bag X447
Pretoria, 0001
Fax: 012 322 2309
E-mail: ncobbinah@environment.gov.za
Hand delivered at: 315 Pretorius Street, corner Pretorius and Van Der Walt streets, Fedsure Forum Building, 2ndFloor, North Tower.
To access the gazette notice, click here.
For media queries contact:
Albi Modise
Cell: 083 490 2871
