Molewa withdraws waste tyre management plan

Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa has withdrawn the Integrated Industry Waste Tyre Management Plan (IIWTMP), which was submitted by the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of SA (Redisa). According to a report on the SA News site, in June 2017, Molewa called for public comments after she announced her intention to withdraw the IIWTMP. The withdrawal is effective from 1 October 2017. ‘Having duly considered all the comments received, the Minister decided to withdraw the plan, noting that Redisa’s term of contract has come to an end. In addition, our evaluation performed over a period of time indicated that there has been poor governance of the plan. There has also been mismanagement related matters that have been raised in court papers and led to the provisional and final liquidation orders of Redisa being granted to the Department of Environmental Affairs,’ the department said. In the meantime, the department’s Waste Management Bureau (WMB) will manage the waste tyre stream through, among others, the 2017 Waste Tyre Regulations gazetted for implementation. ‘The newly gazetted regulations repeal the Waste Tyre Regulations, 2009 and aim to remove duplications, advance the implementation of waste tyre strategy to reduce the environmental externalities associated with waste tyres in SA. The regulations provide for transitional arrangements should a waste tyre management plan expire, be withdrawn or be terminated, the department said.