Question NW1973 to the Minister of Environmental Affairs
03 July 2018 - NW1973
Steenkamp, Ms J to ask the Minister of Environmental Affairs
(a) Has (i) her Department or (ii) the Waste Bureau issued any authorisations to add post-tyre levy on off-the-road (OTR) waste tyres to stockpiles, (b) how does her Department and the Waste Bureau ensure that stockpile owners comply with the registered waste tyre stockpiles abatement plans, particularly in terms of time-frames for abatement and adequacy of their abatement budgets, (c) what is the status of stockpile owners’ compliance with the abatement plans nationwide, (d) how is her Department currently dealing with non-compliant stockpile owners, (e) how is the Waste Bureau monitoring compliance with the Waste Tyre Regulations of OTR stockpiles, and (f) what are her Department and the Waste Bureau’s current options to enable collections and recycling of the OTRs nationwide?
Reply:
a) (i) No, the stockpiles must be dealt with by the stockpile owners who must fund the management of their stockpile.
(ii) No, the Waste Bureau has not issued any such authorisation.
b) The stockpile owners, on approval of their stockpile abatement plans, are issued with an approval letter, with conditions. These conditions include time-frames for the implementation of the abatement plan. The letter requires the submission of annual reports to enable the Department and the Waste Management Bureau to track progress.
c) 3 stockpile abatement plans were submitted and approved by the Minister. Only 1 plan has submitted the annual report. Letters of non-compliance have been issued to the remaining 2 approved abatement plan owners requesting submission of the report by July 2018.
d) Letter requesting annual reports have been sent to the owners for submission by July 2018.
e) DEA is engaging with historical stockpile owners (stockpiles before November 2012) with regard to their responsibility on submission of receipt of the annual reports as per their approved abatement plans. Site visits are part of the standard operating procedures for compliance monitoring to verify the information contained in the annual reports, and consequent compliance against the Waste Tyre Regulations is determined accordingly.
f) The stockpiles created by REDISA as well as waste tyres collected from collection points are sorted and pre-processed at depots prior to being delivered to processors and/or secondary industries. The Waste Bureau is gradually increasing its OTR pre-processing capability by incrementally procuring preprocessing equipment, as well exploring markets for the pre-processed OTR material. These efforts will then enable the Bureau to address the post levy stockpiles. Stockpiles which do not fall within the category above (Historical waste tyre stockpiles) are dealt with in terms of Regulations 7, 8 and 9 of the Waste Tyre Regulations of 2017. Owners of Historical waste tyre stockpiles are expected to register with the Minister, as well as submit abatement plans to the Minister for approval.
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