Radial truck tyre recycler, Mathe Group, has commissioned a multi-million-rand investment in new equipment to extract hundreds of tons of “clean steel” for export to India & South Korea.
Mathe Group CEO, Dr Mehran Zarrebini, says that the clean steel investment, which includes the installation of a new clean steel mill with an automated packaging line and several de-beading machines will boost earnings.
Up until now, steel - which comprises 30% of each radial truck tyre - has been an unavoidable by product that had to be removed before tyres could be reduced to rubber crumb for re-use. This will now become a valued second income stream, ultimately growing export earnings and creating more jobs.
A world class upgrade
Radial truck tyres are processed by removing the walls which are supported by a steel ring (known as debeading) before being fed through a shredder which downsizes the tyre so that additional steel can be extracted and the remaining rubber turned into rubber crumb.
According to Dr Zarrebini, when tyre recycling started in South Africa, the side walls of the tyres were cut off and sold for use in agriculture.
In 2017, when Mathe Group moved to Hammarsdale, the current de-beading process, which uses a hook to remove the steel ring on the sides of the tyres, was introduced.
However, this damages the geometry of the beads, making them difficult to bend, package and sell.
The new machinery - amongst the first used worldwide – removes the entire bead free of rubber and keeps the bead intact. This steel material is then utilised in blasting applications as a substitute for virgin steel.
Dr Zarrebini says that the price gleaned from this material is three times higher than that paid for scrap metal – with the added bonus of additional rubber removed boosting the amount of rubber recovered from each tyre.
The first two de-beaders are already operational with a third en route.
The new debearding machines will replace existing equipment, which is oil driven and costly to maintain, reducing both emissions and operating costs.
“We are looking at material that could be potentially used in the local steel market which is under huge pressure. Right now, no steel extracted from tyres is sold locally,” he explains.
Milling cleaner steel from tyres
At present, the steel extracted from the remainder of the tyres is sent to India where it is cleaned before being shipped to South Korea for use in the manufacture of goods such as ships or motor cars. The cleaning process will now take place in house.
Mathe Group, which processed its millionth radial truck tyre last year and has gone on to increase capacity substantially during 2025 has long been recognised as a sustainability success story and an example of what can be achieved through South Africa’s national tyre recycling strategy which is in the process of revision.
Dr Zarrebini says that the installation of a steel cleaning mill, which will reduce the rubber contamination from the current 10% to less than 2%, is part of a broader re-design of the production process and will include an in built packaging line which will bag the steel and deposit it into awaiting shipping container which is then trucked to the Durban port.
Again, because this steel is clean and does not need to be reprocessed, it commands double the price on the international market. Increased capacity at the plant will see 108 tons (or a minimum of four containers) leaving Hammarsdale each week.
“The new steel processing system cuts a lot of cost from the system and adds both efficiency and a further 8% of rubber crumb to the process. Although steel wasn’t initially Mathe’s main income stream, with the escalating cost and complexity of doing business, it has become an important part of the business.”
The steel extraction equipment will be fully operational by January 2026.