A Benchmark Study of Waste Tyre Recycling in South Africa to European Union Practice

The number of vehicles is increasing globally resulting in an increase in end of life tyres. Waste tyres are now considered to be a source of valuable materials and structures which can be used to produce new goods and products of useful significance. Technologies and innovations for recovering end of life tyres are well established. Reuse, re-treading, energy and material recovery of end of life tyres are viable options. However, the recycling of waste tyres is not globally successful. The aim and motivation for this study was to compare the success of South Africa in waste tyre recycling to that of countries in the European Union and elucidate on factors that can help explain the gaps in recycling uptake. The European Union tyre recycling rates are closer to 100% while in South Africa the rate is less than 20%. Thus the EU is four times more effective than South Africa in addressing the problem of waste tyres. Legal regulations banning end of life tyre in landfills as well as waste tyre management models, such as extended producer responsibility, free market and tax system were evaluated. The paper contributes to an understanding of the differences, challenges and opportunities for waste management that can be obtained from international benchmarks.