On 17 September 2012 the SATRP and Bridgestone lost an urgent application brought against the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (REDISA), the Department of Environmental Affairs and the Minister of Environmental Affairs to exempt tyre manufacturers from complying with the REDISA plan. The exemption would have meant that tyre manufacturers would not have had to pay the levy, although all other tyre producers would. They applied for leave to appeal the judgement, and this application was summarily dismissed with costs on 29 October 2012.
The CEO of REDISA, Hermann Erdmann is very pleased with the outcome. "Since the original ruling on 17 September, the tyre industry has in the main willingly complied with the law and the REDISA plan is being rolled out across the country. We welcome the Judge's decision and see it as yet another positive step towards the practical solution of redressing South Africa's chronic waste tyre problem."
