This fall, Ontario will begin an industry-funded tire-recycling program. It will be delivered by Ontario Tire Stewardship, and funded by fees the OTS will collect from tire manufacturers, brand owners and importers. It is the first of its kind in Canada.This program, based on Extended Producer Responsibility (i.e. Blue Box, household hazardous waste, electronic waste), is predicted to recycle 12 million used tires each year. It will: clean up three million stockpiled tires; recycle 91% of used car and truck tires into higher-end uses; and recycle large industrial and off-road tires, that are not now collected or recycled.
The existing five dollar per tire disposal fee has only led to recycling of half of Ontario car and truck tires. A significant number of old tires remain in old stockpiles or dumps, where they are a significant fire hazard.
There are numerous potential uses for recycled tires, such as: playground equipment and surfaces, athletic field turf and running tracks, rubber flooring products, surfacing for walking trails, interlocking patio bricks, roofing shingles, parking curbs and speed bumps, livestock feeders and troughs, landscape mulch, belts and guitar straps, parts for new vehicles and rubberized asphalt. However, subsidies are required to make such reuses practical. The new tire stewardship program will provide such subsidies from fees added to the cost of new tires.
For more details about the program, see Ontario Tire Stewardship’s backgrounder and tire program at www.ontariotirestewardship.org