Mathe Group invests heavily in clean steel extraction from tyres for export markets

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 and South Korea.

Mathe Group CEO, Dr Mehran Zarrebini, said on Monday 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 the group's earnings.  

This initiative is projected to significantly enhance the company's earnings by tapping into the potential of steel, which constitutes roughly 30% of each radial truck tyre. Previously discarded as a by-product, this steel is now set to become a valuable second income stream for Mathe Group.

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 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, KwaZulu-Natal, 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.   

Zarrebini said that the price gleaned from this material was 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.

Currently, the steel extracted from tyres is sent to India for cleaning before being exported to South Korea, where it finds its way into manufacturing goods like ships and automobiles.

The new in-house cleaning process at Mathe Group will minimise existing rubber contamination from 10% to less than 2%, ensuring higher quality and more lucrative exports.

With the installation of the new steel milling process, the company anticipates weekly shipments of 108 tons, equating to a minimum of four containers, from its Hammarsdale facility.

Zarrebini said that the installation of a steel cleaning mill was 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.

Because this steel is clean and does not need to be reprocessed, he said 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 steel extraction equipment will be fully operational by January 2026.

“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,” Zarrebini said.

“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.”

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