Used Tires Piling Up

Used tires are piling up at auto garages and tire shops across Ontario since changes were made to the province's collection and recycling program.The devastating Hagrsville fire in 1990, caused by arson, prompted the creation of Ontario's regulated tire recycling and diversion programs. In 2008, the Ontario Tire Stewardship program, or OTS, created a centralized used tire program, funded by eco-fees paid by tire producers. More than 70 million used tires were collected under the OTS program from its inception till its closure.In January of 2019, the OTS program ended, shifting to an individual producer responsibility/extended producer responsibility framework. Tire producers became directly accountable for collection and recycling quotas, working through Producer Responsibility Organizations or PROs, managed by the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority or RPRA.In late 2024, the provincial government amended theResource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, lowering the required recycling target for tire manufacturers from 85% to 65% annually. PROs hit their lowered quotas sooner, and ever since, tire retailers and auto shops have experienced lengthy delays in pickups or only partial collection of their tires.Auto shops in Haliburton are facing delays for pick-up of tires of nearly a year and the problem doesn't seem like it's going to improve any time soon.