GeT Metal Group’s tyre-to-fuel recycling cuts packaging aluminium can carbon by 720T

SOUTH AFRICA – GeT Metal Group has eliminated virgin fossil fuels from its aluminium packaging recycling operations by converting 150,000 end-of-life tyres annually into 1.44 million litres of industrial fuel, cutting 720 tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions while supporting South Africa’s tyre EPR regulations.

The waste-to-energy initiative, implemented at GeT Alloys in South Africa, processes roughly 350 million used beverage cans, packaging items and post-consumer scraps annually into premium aluminium ingots. 

The facility has completely replaced its monthly consumption of 120,000 litres of conventional heavy fuel oil with tyre-derived fuel oil recovered through a controlled, oxygen-free thermal conversion process. 

South Africa generates approximately 122 million tonnes of waste yearly but recycles less than 12 percent, with aluminium beverage can packaging recycling rates reaching 75 percent for polyethylene terephthalate bottles but lower for other packaging formats.

Three Waste Streams Become Three Industrial Inputs

To close the circular model, carbon black captured during tyre conversion feeds GeT Alloys’ own aluminium dross recovery operations. 

Steel wire recovered from tyres supplies feedstock to GeT Steel, the group’s foundry in Atlantis Industrial, where it becomes steel billets for South African and export markets.

Andrew Bishop, Director at GeT Metal Group, said that before launching the initiative, the facility required massive volumes of conventional furnace oil to sustain melting operations.

He explained that by engineering a solution that transforms a problematic waste stream into a valuable manufacturing input, the group had eliminated virgin fossil fuel use in primary furnaces, proving that heavy industry can successfully decouple production from fossil fuels through smart engineering.

How South Africa’s Tyre EPR and Packaging Regulations Align

The initiative diverts approximately 12,500 waste tyres monthly from landfills, stockpiles and unmanaged dump sites, directly supporting South Africa’s Extended Producer Responsibility Regulations for tyres and packaging. 

Under these regulations, producers fund Producer Responsibility Organisations, which pay recyclers per tonne of validated material. 

Ebrahim Khan, Director at GeT Metal Group, said that the company wanted to look beyond simple emissions reductions and demonstrate true circular economy principles in action. 

He noted that with this model, waste provides both the raw material and the energy required to remanufacture that material into world-class aluminium ingots. 

Khan added that building this sustainable value chain had created 32 direct jobs across recycling and manufacturing sectors.

720 Tonne CO2 Saving and No Printing Inks Needed

Using emission factors consistent with IPCC and GHG Protocol methodologies, the 1.44 million litre annual displacement of conventional heavy fuel oil delivers estimated greenhouse gas savings of 720 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. 

Unlike printing ink manufacturing which relies on petrochemical solvents, GeT’s thermal conversion process avoids upstream emissions from crude oil extraction, refining and transportation.

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