Operator of Saskatchewan tire recycling program changed

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Consumers aren’t expected to notice a change now that a new agency is overseeing the recycling of scrap tires in Saskatchewan.

Since 1996, the Saskatchewan Scrap Tire Corporation (SSTC) operated a scrap tire product management program on behalf of 1,380 Saskatchewan retailers of motor vehicle tires. Over 21 years, 27 million scrap tires were collected.

But on Aug. 31, the non-profit, non-governmental agency responsible for the administration and management of the provincially legislated scrap tire recycling program ceased to operate.

“Ultimately, the decision was up to the Saskatchewan Scrap Tire board about whether or not to dissolve — that was their decision,” said Wes Kotyk, assistant deputy minister with the Ministry of the Environment. 

He explained the decision came after the environment minister established an advisory committee in January to do a program review of the scrap tire program.

“A number of recommendations came out of that review and resulted in some scrap tire regulations being changed,” Kotyk said.

Historically, there have been concerns about abandoned tires, he said. 

The main drivers for the regulatory changes were to address the public’s expectation for governance, improved accountability and transparency, he said. 

“There was some confusion about the government’s role — was it the steward’s role or was it SSTC’s role for managing certain components, especially when it got on to the back end of the process and use of the tires,” Kotyk said. 

He noted there were no problems at the front end when consumers dropped off tires.

“That system seemed to be working quite effectively,” Kotyk said.

When the new regulations came into force in July, the program design was revamped. 

“The previous program didn’t allow for ease of implementing any changes or moving things forward,” he said. 

In the past, if tires weren’t picked up as frequently as they should be, the ministry couldn’t readily influence changes for improvements.

Now conditions can be imposed on the organization operating the program if there’s not enough education or if the operation isn’t being run as as effectively or efficiently as possible, Kotyk said. 

Effective Sept. 1, the Tires Stewardship of Saskatchewan, a non-profit agency, became the new program operator established by industry to oversee tire recycling in the province. 

Consumers will continue to pay recycling fees to retailers based on the classification of a vehicle, and the fees will be used for the recycling of scrap tires and administration of the scrap tire program.

Fees will remain the same under the new program operator.

“The consumer likely won’t see much for changes,” Kotyk said.

Tire recycling fees are: $4 for passenger/light trucks; $14 for medium trucks; $25 for agricultural tires; $57 for off the road/mining vehicles and $140 for large off the road/mining vehicles.

pcowan@postmedia.com