15 December 2008
Ontario Directs a New Tire Recycling Program
Waste Diversion Ontario Must Develop a Program to Recycle Tires
Although other provinces have had tire recycling stewardship plans in place for many years, Ontario has always lagged behind, despite the efforts of tire associations and organizations to put one in place.
However, in August, Minister of the Environment John Gerretsen directed Waste Diversion Ontario (WDO) to develop a program intended to recycle 90 percent of Ontario’s used tires by its fifth year. In the directive, the Minister requires a plan to clean up any existing tire stockpiles as quickly as possible, and to ensure that the program be self-funding, with an industry organization collecting program fees from tire producers.
Required by December 2008
The program will cover all motor vehicle tires, including OTR, industry, and farm vehicle tires supplied to the Ontario market. In his letter, Gerretsen insists that a program be submitted for approval by December 31, 2008.
WDO is a non-crown corporation that was created in June 2002 under the Waste Diversion Act to develop, implement and operate waste diversion programs for a wide range of materials, including Blue Box waste, used oil material, electrical and electronic equipment, and municipal hazardous or special waste.
Ontario has had no official program for used tires since 1989, when a short-lived $5.00 fee that was ostensibly a recycling charge was levied on each new tire sold in the province. The money instead went into the general revenue stream, and the incoming government repealed it in 1993. This time, the request states that no fees will flow to the government.
Instead, in his letter, Gerretsen directs that WDO either develop the program in cooperation with an existing Industry Funding Organization, or incorporate one, and take on an active role as the organization develops the program.
Priority is the 3 Rs
The program “should place a priority on the diversion of used tires into higher end uses whenever possible, based on the principle of the 3 Rs (reduction, reuse—i.e., retreading where feasible—and recycling),” the letter reads. “Landfilling, the use of used tires as daily cover at landfills, or incineration, shall not be part of the program unless the 3R options are not available or not technically feasible.
“The program should be consumer-focused and designed in a manner to ensure that the program and its return options are user-friendly, available across the province, and accessible to all Ontarians. There shall be a single fee paid by the stewards that is associated with the program. Collectors of tires, including retailers, that are participating
in the program, shall not charge consumers an additional fee for the management of tires following the removal of the tire from the vehicle.”
Cleaning up stockpiles
Gerretsen instructs that the program must also include a plan to clean up existing stockpiles of used tires across the province, and “promote the diversion of stockpiled tires into recycling and higher end uses whenever possible, depending on the quality of the stockpiled tires. The cleanup of stockpiles should be considered a priority under the early mandate of the program and expedited as much as possible. WDO should work with the Ministry of the Environment staff to identify and prioritize stockpile sites for cleanup.”
According to the report, over 10 million used tires need to be managed in the province each year, and that currently about half are being shipped out of the province for use as TDF (tire-derived fuel) or are being stockpiled.
The 2008 Ontario budget has also allocated almost $2 million, over two years, to remove 300,000 illegally-stockpiled tires in the province’s Middlesex County, and to review the inventory of scrap tires in Ontario.
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