Province claims tire producers are breaking Ontario's recycling laws

Tire producers are in trouble with the Ontario agency that regulates recycling in the province, and could soon face fines of $200,000 or more.

All five of the organizations that collect and recycle used tires in Ontario are failing to comply with provincial legislation, according to the agency, called the Resource Productivity & Recovery Authority (RPRA).

The agency has slapped compliance orders on the five organizations, which work for and are funded by tire manufacturers and auto makers. The orders allege that throughout the province, the industry is not providing enough sites that collect used tires. 

The orders are significant because they include threats of financial penalties that could hit any or all the companies that bring tires into Ontario. That includes the big-name tire manufacturers, such as Goodyear, BFGoodrich, Michelin and Pirelli, as well as the major auto makers, such as GM, Ford, Toyota and Honda. 

Tires are one of the single biggest sources of waste that the province wants to keep out of landfills. Producers collected 156,000 tonnes of used tires in 2021, the most recent year for which figures are available. That's the equivalent of 14.7 million passenger vehicle tires. 

The RPRA says in a statement that it informed tire producers a year ago about "shortfalls" in their collection system. The agency says its surveys found 35 per cent of sites that are supposed to collect used tires don't actually do so.

Among the sites that do accept used tires, the agency says half of them charge consumers a fee to collect them and half refuse to accept tires on rims, both of which go against provincial regulations.

The orders give the producers two months to prove through an external audit that their collection system complies with the rules. If they fail to do so, the orders say the companies could face penalties of up to $200,000 plus what's called "economic benefit," the money they saved by not complying. 

Officials from the provincial agency declined CBC's request for an interview. 

The largest of the five tire recycling organizations in Ontario is called eTracks Tire Management Systems. It represents all of the major brand-name tire manufacturers, all the auto makers and some auto importers, making it responsible for some 80 per cent of the volume of used tire collection in Ontario. 

Its chief executive, Steve Meldrum, says eTracks will work with the regulator and the other producer organizations to fulfil what's set out in the compliance order.

"Yes, we need to make sure that the collection system is meeting all the requirements, and we'll do everything in our power to do that, but I believe it's been a very successful program so far," said Meldrum in an interview Tuesday. 

Meldrum says eTracks has about 6,700 collection sites across Ontario, most of them garages. 

He says it would be helpful for RPRA to provide more detail about its finding that 35 per cent of sites were not collecting used tires.