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Cape Town - The government has withdrawn its approval of a
waste tyre management plan, the water and environmental affairs department said
on Wednesday.
This would give it an opportunity to "attend to"
procedural requirements stipulated in the waste tyre regulations, the
department said in a statement.
The integrated industry waste tyre management plan was to
have been introduced on February 1 and funded by a R2.30/kg levy on new tyres,
but approval for it was withdrawn with immediate effect on Wednesday.
"The general public will have an opportunity to engage
and provide input into the (Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of SA [Redisa]) plan, in due course," the department said.
Redisa said it viewed the move as an extension of the
implementation of the project "without confirmation of a date".
This was to make provision for the inclusion of additional
parties, to accept further public comment and to accommodate the "huge
demand" for its services.
"Given that 681 interested entrepreneurs and small
businesses have already registered and shown their support for the Redisa plan,
this extension affords Redisa the opportunity to address the overwhelming
interest the announcement of the plan has provoked," it said.
"While this delay is very disappointing, Redisa will
use the time to refine delivery of the plan so that the waste tyre problem in
South Africa is on the road to recovery."
Beeld reported on Wednesday that the government was going to
the high court in Johannesburg on Friday to defend its decision to award the
multi-million rand contract to Redisa, a relatively "unknown"
organisation.
Etienne Human, the head of the SA Tyre Recycling Process
Company (SATRPC) said that the government had requested the industry to
establish the SATRPC to help develop a recycling project.
It had already cost the industry R8m to do so, he said.
Human said the department of environmental affairs had been
satisfied with the plan up until May, but that there had been no more communication
from the minister since August.
Environmental Affairs Minister Edna Molewa said last week
that Redisa would be responsible for waste tyre management from February 1.
