The Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (REDISA) called out the country’s waste tyre recycling system a ‘ticking time bomb’. The country with an estimated population of about 62 million has more than 13 million registered vehicles including roughly eight million passenger cars and generates an estimated 200,000–250,000 tonnes of waste tyres from road vehicles alone each year.

This has created a major environmental and waste-management challenge alongside rising vehicle ownership.

Commenting on the issue, Executive Director of Operations at REDISA Stacey Jansen told Tyre Trends, “Waste tyre management in South Africa has, in effect, collapsed since the Waste Management Bureau under the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DDFE) took over in 2017. The effect is overfull depots posing significant fire risks including the dumping and burning of tyres illegally causing harmful chemicals to seep into groundwater and causing severe air pollution.”

“Economically, a huge opportunity is being missed, in that a structured management programme geared towards recycling can not only create jobs but also contribute to the circular economy as a whole. This was precisely what REDISA did between 2013 and 2017,” she added.

She also stated that internal research has shown that a functional waste plan for just 13 waste streams could raise South Africa’s GDP growth by 1.5 percentage points. For a country struggling with unemployment and stagnation, this is an avenue that must be pursued.

REDISA alleges serious governance failures within the DFFE and the Waste Management Bureau. The first problem is that no dependable data exists.

“We all know that there is a problem, but we don’t know the extent of it. The department’s figures and reports are filled with inconsistencies and errors and this impacts any effective decision-making on how to fix the issue of waste tyre management,” said Jansen.

Secondly, she argues that there does not seem to be a realisation that the government cannot handle waste tyre management on its own as it does not have the expertise, technology or experience.

Thirdly, more headline-grabbing issues such as conservation and climate, which are important, of course, receive a lot of attention. But ground-level interventions such as waste management, while not as media-friendly, offer real and relatively immediate ways to address environmental and economic problems, she stated.

THE BOMBARDING

The Biesiesvlei depot fire in 2023 caused extensive environmental damage. Alluding to the lessons learned from the incident, Jansen said, “This is a question perhaps best posed to the DFFE. Since that disaster, we have not seen a country-wide response that puts the safety of citizens and the environment first. If something isn’t done on a national scale, more depots will burn, releasing extremely toxic pollutants into the air.”

Moreover, the auctioning of nearly R100 million (USD 5–5.5 million) worth of unused pre-processing equipment has been called an ‘admission of failure’ by REDISA. Commenting on this, Jansen said, “We wish the government could tell us how they ended up idle. Either they bought the wrong equipment or they were unable to deploy it. The right decisions were clearly not made by the leadership in the department.”

Moreover, the exclusion of small businesses and micro-collectors from the current system has also impacted tyre collection, illegal dumping and rural employment.

According to Jansen, from 2013 to 2017, REDISA managed waste tyres in South Africa. In a short space of time, it built 22 tyre collection centres, employed more than 3 000 people and created 226 small waste enterprises.

This was all funded by a management fee levied on plan subscribers (producers and importers) as part of the approved Industry Waste Tyre Plan. In February 2017, following a legislative change, the state imposed an environmental levy, which replaced the fee REDISA was collecting. The levy is still being collected today, but the producers and the citizens are not seeing their money channelled into effective waste tyre management.

In fact, more than half of the money collected is going into the general tax fund. The result has been job losses, mostly in urban areas.

REDISA also claimed that the government underspent on tyre transport due to lack of storage space. Answering how does this contradiction affect the integrity of the waste tyre management system, she said, “The department admits this underspend and gives the reason in its latest annual report. They are silent on the consequences, but it can only lead to illegal dumping and burning of tyres. If you drive by almost any informal settlement or urban fringe in South Africa, you will see dumped tyres. And this could be transformed into an asset under the right system.”

CLEAR VIEW

During her interaction, Jansen encouraged citizens and journalists to visit waste tyre depots in their communities and see if they adhere to safety standards viz-a-viz 6-metre fire breaks between heaps, 8-metre gaps to buildings and fences, maximum heap size of 10 metre x 20 metre and more.

Collectors and transporters regularly complain to REDISA that the situation at the overfull depots and dumps have worsened so much since 2017 and that they are deeply concerned.

Questioning the sustainability of the current approach, Jansen said that generating nearly 70,000 waste tyres every day makes an over-reliance on storage depots deeply flawed. “This is not sustainable at all. The only outcome will be increased air pollution, contaminated groundwater and heightened fire risks. It is an attempt to apply a band-aid to the problem without addressing its root cause,” she said.

Jansen was equally critical of the DFFE’s decision to issue tenders for 32 new depots covering close to one million square metres. According to her, the move signals more than a stop-gap response. “I would describe it as an acknowledgement of defeat and clear evidence of an inability to effectively address tyre recycling in South Africa,” she added.

Reflecting on South Africa’s earlier leadership in circular tyre waste management, Jansen said restoring that position would not require sweeping policy or structural reforms. “The DFFE does not need new frameworks or radical changes. What is required is leadership that acknowledges the scale of the crisis and a willingness to return to a model that has already proven its worth, the internationally recognised REDISA model,” she said.

The warning signs are no longer theoretical. Idle equipment, expanding depots and rising illegal dumping point to a system drifting further from circularity. Without decisive leadership and a return to proven, accountable models, South Africa risks compounding environmental damage, economic loss and public health threats, allowing a ticking time bomb to keep counting down.

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The Government of Kerala has approved the twelfth phase of the Rubber Production Incentive Scheme, extending support to natural rubber growers through a guaranteed price mechanism.

The scheme is designed to ensure a price of INR 250 per kilogram for RSS 4 grade sheet rubber. Growers who are not yet enrolled may register for the programme until 23 October 2026, according to an official statement issued on 6 August in Kottayam.

Applicants seeking new registration must submit an Aadhaar card, bank passbook copy, current year land tax receipt and a photograph to their respective Rubber Producers’ Societies. Existing participants are required to renew their registration by providing land tax receipts for the 2026–27 period.

The release added that sale invoices or purchase bills submitted under the scheme must originate from licensed dealers who comply with statutory return requirements. Further details are available through the nearest Rubber Board office.

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The Rubber Board of India has launched a series of educational videos as part of the iSPEED (INROAD Skilling and Production Efficiency Enhancement Drive) programme, an INR 1.50-billion initiative aimed at enhancing skill development, quality improvement and infrastructure building within the natural rubber sector. This launch comes as the plantation activities under the larger Project INROAD (Indian Natural Rubber Operations for Assisted Development) in Northeast India approach completion, shifting focus towards productivity and quality enhancement through modern training and facilities.

The newly released video series targets nearly 300,000 rubber growers in the region, covering five essential processing areas: Rubber Tapping, Rain Guarding, Grading, Rubber Sheet Making and Scientific Smokehouses. To ensure broad accessibility, the modules have been produced in Assamese, Bengali, Hindi and Malayalam, enabling effective communication with diverse stakeholders across the natural rubber ecosystem.

The official release of the videos was conducted by Executive Director M Vasanthagesan, alongside Rubber Production Commissioner Dr Siju T Nair, other senior Board officials and representatives from the Indian tyre industry. Developed over the past year with technical assistance from the Rubber Board and the Rubber Research Institute of India, the educational content combines animation with real-life field demonstrations to simplify complex scientific practices for easy adoption.

Project INROAD represents a unique collaboration between the Indian tyre industry and the Rubber Board, with support from Apollo Tyres, CEAT, JK Tyre and MRF. Over the last five years, this partnership has facilitated new rubber plantations across approximately 180,000 hectares in 113 districts of Northeast India, establishing it as the country’s largest plantation development programme of its kind.

Mohan Kurian, Chairman, INROAD Project, said, "Skill development and adoption of scientific practices are essential for improving both productivity and quality in the natural rubber sector. These multilingual videos will serve as an effective training resource for growers and complement the Rubber Board's ongoing extension efforts across the country.”

Sanjiv Saxena, Convener, ATMA Supply Chain & Resources (SCR) Group, said, "The objective of the participating member companies under INROAD is to ensure that rubber growers benefit the most from a stronger natural rubber value chain. By improving productivity and quality, we aim to help farmers realise better returns while strengthening the sustainability of the entire ecosystem."

Muraligopal, who played a key role in coordinating the development of the videos, said, "These videos are the result of close collaboration with the Rubber Board, RRII and field teams across the Northeast. Their guidance and support helped us develop practical, farmer-friendly training modules based on scientific best practices."

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Zeon Corporation has finalised the construction of a new bench-scale facility at its Tokuyama Plant in Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, dedicated to advancing the efficient production of butadiene from sustainable ethanol sources. The project, which broke ground in July 2025, represents a strategic move to establish a naphtha-independent raw material supply chain, thereby bolstering both corporate sustainability and the broader transition towards a carbon-neutral society. The facility is slated to commence full-scale operations in January 2027, with the ultimate goal of achieving commercial viability by 2034.

A commemorative ceremony took place at the plant site on 31 July 2026, drawing a total of 46 attendees. The gathering included official representatives from Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and local governmental bodies from Yamaguchi Prefecture and Shunan City. Also present were delegates from the Yokohama Rubber Company, the construction contractor and various affiliated firms, alongside Zeon’s leadership, including Akira Honma, the Corporate Officer and Tokuyama Plant Manager.

This initiative forms one half of a dual-themed research and development programme undertaken in partnership with Yokohama Rubber, under the auspices of NEDO’s Green Innovation Fund. The collaborative effort is focused on the social implementation of technologies for synthesising both butadiene and isoprene from renewable biological materials by the 2030s. As part of this process, Zeon is set to produce a prototype polybutadiene rubber using the output from the new bench-scale facility, while Yokohama Rubber will subsequently manufacture test tyres from this material and conduct performance evaluations on test tracks.

Both companies have outlined a clear roadmap, intending to finalise the core technology for societal deployment by 2030 through the operation of a larger pilot plant, with full-scale commercialisation targeted for 2034. The bench-scale facility is a critical precursor in this phased approach, providing essential data for the scale-up process.

The broader project encompasses two selected NEDO themes, both subsidised through the Green Innovation Fund. The first involves the highly efficient synthesis of butadiene from ethanol, with technical cooperation from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. The second focuses on biotechnological pathways to directly produce butadiene and isoprene from plant-based materials, involving partnerships with the Institute of Science Tokyo and RIKEN. Both tracks aim to supplement synthetic rubber feedstocks and support closed-loop recycling, aligning with Japan’s 2050 net-zero emissions goal by fostering long-term industrial innovation.

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The Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries (ANRPC) has released its Monthly Natural Rubber Statistical Report for June 2026, a month defined by price resilience amid conflicting market forces. The provisional reopening of the Strait of Hormuz triggered a sharp 20.29 percent drop in Brent crude oil prices to USD 85.40 per barrel. However, this bearish signal was counterbalanced by persistent supply constraints from El Niño-related weather disruptions across major producing regions.

Physical rubber prices posted broad-based gains across most grades. SMR-20 rose 1.39 percent to USD 2.32 per kilogramme, while STR-20 gained 2.61 percent to USD 2.55 per kilogramme. RSS-3 and RSS-4 advanced 4.98 percent and 5.88 percent to USD 3.09 and USD 2.84 per kilogramme, respectively, though latex eased 1.44 percent to USD 1.94 per kilogramme. On the trade front, China's imports surged 7.14 percent month-on-month, while India and Viet Nam declined. Export growth was recorded for Cambodia, Viet Nam and Indonesia, though Thai shipments contracted.

Global production for 2026 is projected at 15.310 million tonnes, up 2.3 percent from 2025, driven by gains in Thailand, China, India and Malaysia. However, June output fell 3.7 percent year-on-year to 1.207 million tonnes due to seasonal wintering and El Niño-related weather disruptions. Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia have introduced new incentive and governance measures to strengthen their sectors. Global consumption is forecast to grow 0.7 percent to 15.411 million tonnes in 2026, with June consumption rising 3.3 percent to 1.300 million tonnes, led by China and India amid steady tyre and EV-related demand.

Currency markets saw the Malaysian ringgit trade between RM3.96 and RM4.08 against the US dollar, while the Thai baht ranged from 32.56 to 33.24. In futures trading, the SHFE September 2026 contract averaged 17,580.68 CNY per tonne, down 0.45 percent month-on-month, while the SGX September contract averaged USD 2.24 per kilogramme, up 1.75 percent, with both reflecting tightening supply and firm downstream demand.

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