After the judgement by the Gauteng North High Court on Monday that the application by the South African Tyre Recycling Process (SATRP) and Bridgestone for an interdict against Edna Molewa was dismissed, the SATRP reported that their legal team will peruse the judgement before a decision on how to go forward is made.

Justice Piet van der Byl ruled that any tyre producer that did not have the Redisa integrated industry waste tyre management plan which is the plan approved by Molewa or did not belong to an existing integrated waste tyre plan would from Friday “not be entitled to manufacture [or] import new, part worn or re-treaded tyres” and would be subject to the sanctions provided in the waste tyre regulations and other legislative provisions.

The application by the SATRP, while waiting for approval of their plan for waste tyres and recycling asked the court to rule that it was not obligatory for tyre producers who had subscribed to or intended subscribing to its plan to comply with the controversial Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa’s (Redisa) waste tyre management plan.

Their claim, that it would have to spend millions to comply with the Redisa plan. Van der Byl said he failed to see how any of SATRP’s subscribers would be prejudiced if they were required to register and comply with Redisa’s plan. If and when the SATRP plan was approved, he said that tyre companies could choose to leave the Redisa plan with no financial implications, within 120 days’ notice.

Hermann Erdmann, Redisa’s chief executive, said he was very pleased with the outcome and stressed the tyre industry was now legally obliged to deal with its waste.

“The delays and obstructions put in the way of implementing a solution to our waste tyre problem also affect all the people who are looking to Redisa for their opportunity to earn a decent living. This court action has been yet another distraction from the real purpose of the plan, which is to build a sustainable tyre recycling industry and create jobs.”

Riaan van Niekerk, the chairman of the SATRP, said it did not take Redisa, the minister or the department to court but was only seeking a declaratory order to enable it to inform its members and subscribers whether they were obliged to join Redisa by this Friday. Van Niekerk denied the SATRP had caused delays in Redisa implementing its plan.

Source:iol