The indiscriminate burning of tyres within the CMA to recover the scrap metal has been a major concern of the City of Cape Town. The burning results in palls of black smoke that is visible from any vantage point within the CMA. The acrid smoke is a nuisance and a health problem to localized areas close to where the burning takes place. It has been reported from the Cape Town International Airport that at times the black smoke impairs the vision to such extent that the pilots are forced to use their instruments to assist with the landing of aircraft.

The City of Cape Town has on many occasions petitioned the government and in particular the DEAT to introduce a “cradle to grave” concept for the disposal of tyres in South Africa. A committee at national level (on which a member of the Air Pollution Control staff serve), under the auspices of the South African Tyre Recycling Project (SATRP) has been established to address this problem. From the work done by this SATRP it is apparent that there is a viable market to dispose of tyres in South Africa provided a levy can be imposed on all locally manufactured new tyres and imported tyres and casings. The levy system should be fast-tracked in order to effectively eliminate the burning of tyres to recover the scrap metal.

It has been estimated that within the CMA only 10% of spent tyres are disposed of at refuse disposal sites. At a local level an Indiscriminate Burning of Tyre Committee has been established to focus on events within the CMA. The committee, under the auspices of the Air Pollution Control Section, is comprised of officials of the health, fire, and cleansing services of the MLC’s and the City of Cape Town, community leaders, NGO’s, environmental groups, DEAT, scrap metal dealers, and the SATRP. The committee has focused on drawing attention to the local problem, involving all interested and effected parties and calling on the tyre dealers to act responsibly with their waste products. The committee members and the press went on a walkabout in the effected areas of Cross Roads and Phillipi where extensive tyre burning takes place to gain first hand information as to the extent of the problem. These efforts have had but a minimal effect to control the issue because the monetary value of a spent tyre the lack of interest by the dealers and the inability to enforce better control.

The effective control of the burning will only be properly addressed once the levy system and suitable legislation is introduced in South Africa to control this problem.