Abstract
Municipal general waste accumulation, including the general waste category of end-of-life tyres (EOLT), has become a universal predicament especially in the majority of first world as well as in the third world countries. South Africa is recognized for its economic growth and improved living standards of people which has led to the increased accumulation rates of waste tyres. Consequently, the South African government declared its intentions to divert all categories of end-of-life tyres away from municipal dumping grounds as they present acute health and ecological threats. The government gazetted the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (REDISA) Integrated Industry Waste Tyre Management Plan (IIWTMP) in 2015. The Plan seeks to manage and reprocess waste tyres, bringing about environmental sustainability and economic prosperity through the simultaneous creation of jobs. This work is a theoretical literature review study that highlights the achievements and failures of the Plan. Despite it being a comprehensively drafted and well-rationalized Plan, REDISA drew negative public scrutiny from various stakeholders and institutions such as the Organization Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA), Retail Motor Industry Organization (RMI), and television programs like Carte Blanche. The findings show that REDISA did manage to make significant contributions to the different sectors governing the Plan such as the creation of jobs and small, medium, and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs), the establishment of depots and waste tyre processing facilities, and the investment into several institutions of higher learning to further research and development in the waste tyre sector. The plan ultimately ceased operation citing several unsound practices such as corporate administrative issues, deviating from the National Environmental Management (NEM) Amendment Law Bill, failing to carry out the duties outlined in the original Plan, andREDISA did not comply with operational and performance goals