Tires no longer accepted at South Huron landfill

By John Miner

South Huron’s tire recycling program has come to a screeching halt in the wake of changes to provincial regulations.

The municipal landfill, which usually handles about 1,000 tires a year, will no longer accept them.

Alyssa Keller, South Huron’s manager of environmental services, said the tire recycling program was paused after the municipality couldn’t find haulers to pick up tires at the landfill.

Under Ontario government regulations prior to Jan. 1, 2025, companies that supply tires to the Ontario market were legally and financially responsible for managing their disposal after use by consumers.

The target for tire suppliers was set at 85 per cent of the tires marketed in Ontario.

But the government lowered the target 18 months ago to 65 per cent.

Keller said South Huron noticed a slowdown in the pickup of tires by recyclers after the change. Then it came to a stop.

“There was the odd truck we could catch and still kind of keep the program moving, but we were getting a backup,” she said.

The municipality is unable for now to get rid of about 200 tires it has collected at the landfill.

In a news release, South Huron said it decided not to accept any more tires in order to prevent unnecessary costs to municipal rate payers.

“We needed to make sure we could stop it where we didn’t have a large stockpile of tires there,” Keller said.

Some other Ontario municipalities with tire recycling programs have also quit collecting tires, including Wellington County, which collected hundreds of tonnes of tires a year.

There is hope the province will change its regulations again to ensure tires are collected and processed in a timely manner.

In a notice posted on the Environmental Registry of Ontario, the government said it was considering regulations that would require companies to collect tires from any site that requests pickup and has 50 or more tires.

During peak tire change months of October to December and April to May, the tires would have to be picked up within one month. The rest of the year it would be two months.

If the regulations are changed and haulers are available, South Huron would like to reintroduce the tire recycling program, Keller said.

The tire recycling is part of an overall program aimed at diverting waste from the landfill, including wood, shingles, concrete, cardboard, metals and e-waste. With the program, about one-third of the waste that comes through the gates at the landfill is recycled, Keller said.

Until the tire recycling program can be resumed, her advice for residents with tires for recycling is to contact the company they purchased the tires from to see if they can drop them off there.