Tyre-recycling businesses protect environment

Redisa's Stacey Davidson says South Africa is on track to start recycling tyres and removing them from the dump sites and vacant pieces of ground. Image: Redisa

Estimates of the number of abandoned tyres lying around SA range from 60m to 100m. Another 11m or so are added to the stockpile each year as vehicle owners buy new ones. Many of the scrapped tyres end up in landfills, while others are burnt for heat or left lying in the open.

Reacting to what it considers a serious health hazard and a danger to the environment, the Department of Environmental Affairs two years ago ordered that the tyre industry should be the first in SA to develop an industry waste management plan.

The plan, which became effective last year, is driven by the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of SA (Redisa). Executive Director Stacey Davidson said that up to June this year, 28,811 tons of old tyres had been collected and processed. However, it is a measure of the challenge that about 240,000 tons of new tyres enter the market each year.

The plan relies on independent transporters delivering old tyres to regional storage depots, from where they are passed on to recyclers. Licensed operators at every stage must be at least 51% black-owned. So far Redisa has licensed 73 transporters.

Davidson said materials from the recycling process were used by several industries. The steel content goes to the metals sector, while the rubber can be turned into hosepipes, rubber gaskets, floor mats, astroturf and even bitumen for road surfaces.

New applications for recycling tyres

Researchers at Stellenbosch University and Port Elizabeth's Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) are looking for new uses. NMMU's botany department has begun field trials using rubber crumbs as a soil additive in landscaping.

Thousands of tons of used car tyres are dumped every year in South Africa. Redisa is hoping to rapidly recycle these as part of an environmental management programme. Image: Rainharvest

Most tyres are collected from tyre fitment centres and motor dealers, but the South African National Defence Force and some municipalities are among others that have set up collection centres. Tyres come from cars, trucks, motorbikes, machines and even aircraft.

Davidson said Redisa was talking to Anglo American about a process to recycle tyres used in the mining industry. Tyres on some of the behemoths can weigh up to six tons each.

"It is clearly not practical to transport these tyres in their original form for recycling, so we are looking at a mobile facility that is able to move from stockpile to stockpile and break them down," said Davidson

She said Redisa hoped soon to announce a way to reward local community co-operatives for alerting Redisa to abandoned tyres.

Despite the apparently slow start in SA, Davidson said the plan was on schedule. "There was never any question of solving the problem quickly." The five-year roll-out would allow the new industry to grow sustainably and become viable for the long-term. Inevitably, most of the early efforts had been concentrated in Gauteng, the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, but the plan would gradually spread to the rest of the country, she said.

Between December and June, Redisa-licensed transporters collected 4,046 tons of tyres from Gauteng, 3,856 tons from the Western Cape, 3,019 tons from KwaZulu-Natal, 1,856 tons from the North West, 1,664 tons from the Eastern Cape, 1,538 tons from the Northern Cape, and 1,030 tons from the Free State.

"Eventually we will have many more than the nine recyclers currently operating," she said. The initiative would also lead to more employment. So far it is credited with creating 743 jobs.

Source: Financial Mail via I-Net Bridge