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| Roxy Louw in front of the made-in-South-Africa Sandero signed with her logo. Whaddya mean the pix is irrelevant to the story? Its got a car with tyres, ainnit? And Roxy surfs, which is environmental ... sort of. |
Redisa warns it only wants plans that control
pollutants
FOLLOWING the dismissal of a legal challenge by the retail motor
industry against a levy that will fund the transport of old tyres to national
recycling depots, The Witness asked the levy recipient about its
plans.
Redisa, for the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of
South Africa, states on its website that it “is being approached on an almost daily basis
with proposals for recycling plants” and confirmed that to date, it had received
close to 300 proposals.
Redisa confirmed it had received several proposal toburn old tyres
to make electricity or to fire kilns that make bricks and cement. Tyres burn
very well and the companies that have their bids approved will be assured of
gratis fuel, delivered free to their doorstep.
Pietermaritzburg-based environmental group, groundWork, is against
burning tyres. groundWork said supplying kilns with tyres would mean car owners
are taxed to give a private industry free fuel, with little guarantee that the
kilns would not spew pollutants in the air.
The Retail Motor Industry told The Witness the new
tyre recycling levy will raise R624 million annually, before VAT, to fund
Redisa’s gratis delivery to recyclers.
A few companies also aim to shred the passenger car tyres to
produce rubber crumb, which can make rubber compound products, ranging from
soles for running shoes to bitumen mixes used in roads.
Redisa however warns businesses on its website that crumbing
proposals must show demand for their product, as South Africa historically has
little need for tyre crumbs.
Redisa said it had not yet committed to any plans and is, instead,
checking the submitted plans to ensure it will meet certification processes and
pollutant controls, if approved.
The by-products and pollutants produced by recycling tyres are
Redisa’s main concern. The initiative said recycling of tyres produces gases,
zinc, mercury, dioxins and furanes, nitrous oxides, low-grade char and
contaminated water, all of which will have to be stringently managed by
recylers.
It explained that tyres are sourced from all over the world, and
some tyres are made using aromatic hydrocarbons that are toxic if they are not
destroyed in the recycling process. “The recycling processes, if not carefully
managed, can produce a whole range of nasty components that you do not want
released into the environment. If tyres are not burnt at a high enough
temperature, for example, they can release toxic compounds into the atmosphere,”
Redisa said.
As for green options that do not involve burning or
energy-intensive shredding, Redisa said it has not received such plans, but some
community-based programmes are interested in growing vegetables using stacked
tyres as giant “flower pots”.
Redisa assured The Witness it would help develop
novel proposals at its own cost.
It said it did not expect novel efforts “to account for significant
volumes” in relation to the more than 300 000 tons that need to be processed per
year.
• alwyn.viljoen@witness.co.za
ANYONE can send a plan to Redisa to get old tyres to recycle.
Redisa is, however,
looking to re-use 300 000 tons of the old rubber each year, and will evaluate
plans against a checklist to assess their environmental impact, job and
business-creation capability, value of output products, sustainability, and
input requirements, among other criteria.
Approved recyclers will
receive a contract from Redisa to get waste tyres delivered free of charge for a
specific period. Redisa already has proposals that require far more tyres than
are available. The levy on new tyres will pay to transport waste tyres to
approved recyclers long enough for them to recoup their establishment
investment.
