Ontario's environment minister approves scrap tyre plan

ERJ staff report (TB)

Toronto, Canada -- Ontario Environment Minister John Gerretsen announced his approval of the Ontario Used Tire Program Plan before the annual general meeting of Waste Diversion Ontario, the provincial nonprofit corporation charged with developing and administering waste recycling programs.

As proposed in a December draft and confirmed in a final version issued two months later, the used tyre plan will divert Ontario's scrap tyres away from tyre-derived fuel and landfilling toward value-added products, such as auto parts, flooring, sports fields and playground surfaces.

The program will establish more than 10 000 collection points for used tyres across the province and track their path from collection to final end-use, according to a statement. Brand owners and first importers of tyres-including tyre manufacturers, tyre retailers and vehicle manufacturers-will be responsible for funding the program, based on a formula set out in the program agreement.

That agreement also sets up the formula for stewardship fees placed on each new tyre sold in Ontario. In the draft plan, those fees ranged from $2.03 for solid industrial tyres to $365.53 for giant off-the-road tyres.

The plan goes into effect Sept. 1. Ontario generates some 12 million scrap tyres annually, with another 2.8 million currently stockpiled within the province, the release said.

Ontario has been without a scrap tyre management plan since 1993, when the provincial government ended an unpopular $5 per tyre scrap tire fee that had been in effect for four years.

From Tire Business (A Crain publication)

Press release from Ontario environment ministry