Waste Tyre Plan back on Track

[LazyLion]

Government's waste tyre recycling plan is back on track after a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling on Thursday.

The court found in favour of the environment and water affairs minister in a matter against the Retail Motor Industry (RMI).

The RMI brought a case against the minister and the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of SA (Redisa) to block implementation of the Redisa Integrated Industry Waste Tyre Management Plan.

"We are delighted by the outcome of this judgment, which has thoroughly tested the principles of the Redisa plan and found them to be sound," Redisa CEO Hermann Erdmann said.

The court dismissed the key grounds of RMI's complaint with the proviso that solid tyres be excluded from the plan.

"This is a minor amendment to the plan, with solid tyres constituting two percent of total annual tyre production," said Erdmann.

The SCA found that the references to solid tyres were severable.

"It is possible, textually, to separate the references to solid tyres from references to tyres as defined in the waste tyre regulations," the court found.

"The references to tyres as defined are not dependant in any manner on the references to solid tyres, because solid tyres are always referred to expressly and separately from tyres as defined."

The unanimous judgment by a full bench held that the RMI's appeal should be dismissed.

Erdmann said Redisa could now begin implementing the plan's original intention, which was to remove waste tyres from the environment while creating jobs and building a recycling industry.

Erdmann said the plan's implementation, which had been delayed due to court proceedings for over 12 months, would be ramped up to deliver results.

"We are ready and prepared to move ahead with the next stages of the plan, namely to establish the collection and recycling networks," he said.


Source : Sapa /ag/hdw/th/jk/ks
Date : 23 May 2013 16:17

 

[LazyLion]

Waste Tyre Plan gets rolling

Civic body Sanco and the environmental affairs department have joined forces to implement a programme to get rid of waste tyres.

This was being done in terms of the department's Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of SA (Redisa), the two parties said on Monday.

"The SA National Civic Organisation (Sanco) and Redisa are partnering in the roll-out of the Redisa waste tyre plan, which will see the removal of waste tyres from the environment while creating jobs and strengthening the local recycling industry," said Redisa CEO Hermann Erdmann.

The plan included setting up and managing a national network for collecting and temporarily storing waste tyres, delivery to recyclers, as well as supporting the development of a waste tyre recycling industry.

Putting the plan into effect would take up to five years. Redisa's integrated industry waste tyre management plan cleared its last legal challenge in the Supreme Court of Appeal on Thursday.

In January, the High Court in Pretoria ruled in favour of Redisa's plan. It found earlier that Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa was entitled to withdraw Redisa's previous plan and approve its new one.

An application was brought by the Retail Motor Industry organisation (RMI) seeking to review and set aside Molewa's decision to withdraw approval for the previous Redisa waste tyre management plan and approve the current plan.

On November 20, the RMI was granted a temporary interdict by the same court halting implementation of the previous plan. The interdict was granted pending the hearing of the RMI's main application for an order reviewing and setting aside Molewa's approval of the Redisa plan.

However, the High Court in Pretoria disagreed an interdict should have been granted in November.

Molewa had withdrawn the previous Redisa plan, then approved and gazetted the current plan for immediate implementation.

The RMI argued the withdrawal of the previous plan meant members' subscription to that plan had no legal consequence, and tyre producers would need to re-subscribe, and tyre dealers re-register with the current plan.

In terms of the waste tyre regulations, all concerned parties are required to comply with the new approved plan within 60 days of its approval.

According to Redisa, the tyre industry produces more than 10 million waste tyres every year. It is estimated that between 60 million and 100 million scrap tyres are currently stockpiled in South Africa.

Waste tyres pose an environmental problem, both as pollutants and as breeding grounds for mosquitoes and vermin.

However, there is as yet no effective technology for disposing of tyres in an environmentally friendly yet economically viable way.

Redisa will remove waste tyres from the environment by charging a levy to the manufacturer, which will effectively subsidise the collection and recycling processes.


Source : Sapa /pd/hdw/th/jk
Date : 27 May 2013 12:27