South African Waste Tyre Regulations: REDISA, NEMA, and Compliance

By:     Conor Murphy

Expert review by:     Conor Murphy

South Africa’s approach to waste tyre management has undergone more fundamental structural change in recent years than almost any comparable jurisdiction globally. The country moved from a voluntary industry approach, through the ambitious but ultimately contested REDISA extended producer responsibility scheme, to the current framework under the National Environmental Management: Waste Act and the Waste Tyre Regulations. Understanding this history is not merely academic: it explains why the current regulatory framework is structured the way it is, why compliance obligations exist at their current level of detail, and why South African tyre processors and generators sometimes encounter conflicting guidance from different regulatory sources.

The practical consequence of this regulatory evolution is that any business generating, collecting, or processing waste tyres in South Africa must engage with the current legal framework carefully, rather than relying on practices established under the REDISA era or on informal arrangements that predate formal regulation. The current framework is enforceable, the penalties for non-compliance are material, and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) has signalled continued intent to strengthen enforcement.

For businesses considering investment in tyre processing equipment in South Africa, regulatory compliance is not a constraint that sits outside the investment case; it is a core component of it. Equipment that enables legitimate, documented, high-quality tyre processing positions its operator within the regulatory framework rather than at risk from it.

Gradeall International supplies tyre processing equipment to South African operations from its manufacturing base in Dungannon, Northern Ireland. The MKII tyre baler, truck tyre sidewall cutter, OTR tyre sidewall cutter, and the full tyre recycling equipment range serve South African tyre processors and generators. With nearly 40 years of manufacturing experience and equipment operating in over 100 countries including South Africa, Gradeall understands the regulatory and commercial context for tyre processing investment in the South African market.

REDISA: What It Was and Why It Ended

The Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (REDISA) was established in 2012 as an approved industry waste management plan under the National Environmental Management: Waste Act 59 of 2008 (NEMWA). REDISA collected a levy from tyre manufacturers and importers per kilogram of tyres placed on the South African market, using the funds to operate a national collection network, pay waste pickers and collectors, and fund tyre processing operations across the country.

At its peak, REDISA was the most ambitious tyre producer responsibility scheme in Africa, and one of the most comprehensive globally. It created income for thousands of informal sector waste collectors, established tyre collection points across South Africa, including in areas that commercial recycling logistics had never served, and funded the construction of tyre processing facilities that became the foundation of the formal South African tyre recycling industry.

The scheme was placed under administration in 2017 following concerns from the Department of Environmental Affairs (now DFFE) about REDISA’s governance, financial management, and the distribution of levy funds. Legal challenges from REDISA and its supporters contested the administration process. The extended legal and administrative uncertainty created significant disruption to the tyre collection and processing industry that had been funded through the scheme.

REDISA’s administration and subsequent dissolution left a gap in the funded infrastructure for tyre collection that the industry and government have worked to address through the current regulatory framework. Several of the tyre processing businesses established under REDISA continue to operate under the current framework; others did not survive the funding disruption.

The Current Framework: NEMA, NEMWA, and the Waste Tyre Regulations

The legal foundation for South Africa’s current waste tyre management framework is the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (NEMA) and the National Environmental Management: Waste Act 59 of 2008 (NEMWA). These two pieces of framework legislation establish the environmental management principles, regulatory powers, and enforcement mechanisms that apply to waste management in South Africa, including waste tyres.

The Waste Tyre Regulations (GNR 1166 of 2017 as amended). The Waste Tyre Regulations, published under NEMWA, are the specific regulatory instrument that governs waste tyre management in South Africa. They establish:

Producer responsibility. Tyre producers (manufacturers and importers) are responsible for managing waste tyres arising from the tyres they place on the market. This obligation must be discharged through participation in an approved industry waste management plan (IWMP) or by demonstrating individual compliance with the Regulations’ requirements.

Registration. Tyre producers must register with the DFFE and submit annual reports on the quantities of tyres placed on the market and the quantities of waste tyres managed.

Waste tyre management targets. The Regulations set minimum recovery and recycling targets that producers must achieve, expressed as percentages of the tonnage placed on market.

Collection and processing standards. The Regulations set standards for the storage of waste tyres (maximum volumes, fire management requirements) and for the processing methods that count toward compliance targets.

Prohibited disposal. The Regulations prohibit the disposal of waste tyres in certain ways, including uncontrolled burning and unlicensed dumping. Landfill disposal of whole tyres is restricted.

Industry Waste Management Plans (IWMPs). The current framework for collective producer responsibility is implemented through IWMPs approved by the DFFE. Following REDISA’s dissolution, the South African tyre industry worked to establish new collective compliance mechanisms. The South African Tyre Recyclers Association (SATRP) and related industry bodies have been involved in developing IWMP proposals for the post-REDISA period. The specific approved IWMPs in operation should be confirmed with the DFFE for current status, as the regulatory landscape continues to develop.

Licensing and Registration Requirements for Tyre Processors

Tyre processing operations in South Africa require licensing under NEMWA’s waste management licensing framework. The specific licence category and conditions depend on the scale and nature of the processing activity.

Waste management licence (WML). Processing activities that exceed prescribed thresholds require a WML from the relevant provincial environment department (or in some cases the DFFE at national level). The WML application requires environmental impact assessment or basic assessment depending on the listed activity category, specification of the proposed processing method and equipment, site layout and storage arrangements, and management measures for emissions, waste residues, and stormwater.

Registration below licensing thresholds. Smaller processing activities below the licensing threshold may operate under a registration or notification system rather than requiring a full WML. The applicable thresholds and the procedures for sub-threshold registration should be confirmed with the provincial environment department for the relevant province.

Provincial environment departments. Waste management licensing in South Africa is primarily administered by provincial environment departments (Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning, KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, and equivalents in other provinces). The licensing process and timelines vary by province; early engagement with the relevant provincial authority is strongly recommended before committing to a tyre processing facility investment.

The Informal Sector: Compliance and Integration

South Africa’s waste management sector includes a large and economically significant informal component: waste pickers (known as reclaimers) who collect recyclable materials from streets, dumps, and transfer stations and sell them to buy-back centres and processors. The REDISA scheme explicitly incorporated informal sector collectors, creating formal payment mechanisms for their collection activities.

The current Waste Tyre Regulations maintain a role for the informal sector in tyre collection, and the social and economic importance of this sector in South Africa’s waste management system means that IWMPs and compliance mechanisms must accommodate informal collection rather than requiring exclusively formal licensed collection for all waste tyre movements.

For formal tyre processing businesses, the practical implication is that waste tyres may arrive from a mixture of formal licensed collectors and informal channels. The documentation and traceability requirements of the Regulations apply to the tyre processor’s operations regardless of how the tyres were collected upstream; maintaining clear intake records and waste management documentation is a compliance requirement for licensed processors.

Municipal and Provincial Compliance Obligations

Beyond the national framework under NEMA and NEMWA, tyre generators and processors must comply with municipal by-laws and provincial regulations that may impose additional requirements on tyre storage, transport, and processing.

Fire safety requirements for tyre storage are administered through local municipality fire departments and the National Building Regulations. The fire risk associated with tyre stockpiles is well-recognised in South Africa, where several significant tyre dump fires have occurred. Municipal fire safety inspections of tyre storage facilities are conducted in larger municipalities; compliance with fire separation, maximum stockpile size, and access requirements is enforced through these inspections.

Environmental authorisations and permits under the National Environmental Management Act may also be required for activities with potential significant environmental impact, separate from the waste management licence. Large processing facilities undertaking activities listed under the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulations may require environmental authorisation before construction and operation.

“South Africa has a sophisticated and evolving regulatory framework for waste tyres, and businesses that understand it and build their operations around compliance are the ones that succeed long-term,” says Conor Murphy, Director of Gradeall International. “The equipment investment is part of demonstrating legitimate processing capability to the regulators and to the industry plan administrators. You can’t claim compliance without the processing infrastructure to back it.”

Contact Gradeall International for tyre processing equipment for South African operations and for guidance on how equipment investment supports regulatory compliance.

Frequently Asked Questions

← Back to news