The Helderberg based GeT Metal Group and its subsidiary GeT Alloys are doing their bit for the environment through the launch of a green project.
The companies have successfully eliminated virgin fossil fuels from their aluminium melting operations by launching a pioneering waste-to-energy initiative. The project aims to transform around 150 000 end-of-life tyres into 1,44 million litres of high-quality industrial fuel every year, directly tackling South Africa’s severe waste tyre burden while decarbonising heavy industry.
Waste power furnaces
GeT Alloys is a prominent South African aluminium recycler, processing roughly 350 million used beverage cans, packaging items and post-consumer scraps annually into premium aluminium ingots. Following the full implementation of this circular economy model, the facility has completely replaced its monthly consumption of 120 000 litres of conventional heavy fuel oil with tyre-derived fuel oil.
The fuel is recovered through a controlled, oxygen-free thermal conversion process that alters the chemical structure of the waste tyres. To further close the loop, carbon black, a secondary product of this waste-to-energy process, is captured and used within GeT Alloys’ own aluminium dross recovery operations.
Closing the loop
Further strengthening this multi-stream circular model, the steel wire recovered during the tyre conversion process is also retained and used within the GeT Metal Group. This material is supplied as feedstock to GeT Steel, the group’s steel foundry in Atlantis, where it is incorporated into the production of steel billets for both the South African and export markets, ensuring that multiple material streams from end-of-life tyres are returned to productive industrial use.
Andrew Bishop, director at GeT Metal Group, explains the strategic importance of the transition: “Before launching this initiative, our facility required massive volumes of conventional furnace oil to sustain our melting operations. By engineering a solution that transforms a problematic waste stream into a valuable manufacturing input, we have eliminated the use of
virgin fossil fuels in our primary furnaces. This shows that heavy industry can successfully decouple production from fossil fuels through smart engineering.”
Slashing carbon emissions
By displacing 1.44 million litres of conventional heavy fuel oil annually, the initiative delivers an estimated greenhouse gas saving of 720 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. Calculated using internationally recognised emission factors consistent with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Protocol methodologies, these savings represent the avoidance of heavy upstream emissions linked to crude oil extraction, refining and fuel transportation.
Easing the burden
The initiative also delivers a major boost to local environmental management by diverting around 12 500 waste tyres every month from landfills, tyre waste stockpiles and unmanaged dump sites. This directly supports SA’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Regulations by establishing a stable, high-volume market for end-of-life rubber, promoting beneficiation and strengthening the broader metal packaging value chain.
“We wanted to look beyond simple emissions reductions and demonstrate true circular economy principles in action,” says Ebrahim Khan, director at GeT Metal Group. “With this model, waste provides both the raw material and the energy required to remanufacture that material into world-class aluminium ingots.
Simultaneously, building this sustainable value chain from collection to processing has allowed us to create 32 direct jobs across the recycling and manufacturing sectors, driving local economic development when it is needed most.”
