Ontario has a used tire problem and local mechanics have had enough

If you take a drive down Kingston Road near Danforth Avenue in Scarborough, you’ll no doubt notice very large piles of discarded tires outside the many vehicle repair shops that line the thoroughfare.

Those piles are growing larger by the day.

“I’ve been in business for 25 years and the problem has never been this bad,” said John Rouvas who owns Optimum Auto Services, Ltd.

A big part of his business is replacing tires and when he purchases new ones for clients, he pays a fee.

“It’s called an eco fee which is $5 per tire and is intended to include the disposal of the tires, like picking them up and hauling them away,” he said.

Shops like his call companies tasked with picking up the tires. But for several months, Rouvas says, that has not happened.

“I have called multiple times and they haven’t come to pick up the tires and it’s been close to six months now,” he said. “You can’t get rid of them and I also have people coming and leaving tires here in the middle of the night because they think it’s a dump off place.”

The piles, he says, are not just an environmental concern. Rainwater has been collecting in the piles attracting mosquitos and his growing stacks are taking up the few parking spaces he has left outside his shop.

“I have nowhere left to put these things. I don’t get paid to store them here but I’ve essentially become a used tire storage site.”

The tire disposal program is regulated by the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA) which is tasked with enforcing Ontario’s tire disposal laws.

An RPRA spokesperson acknowledged the problem saying they’ve been made aware that many tire dealers are experiencing delays in getting their used tires picked up.

“This situation is not an enforcement issue, but a regulatory issue,” the spokesperson said.

It all has to do with changes made in 2024 to Ontario’s Tire Regulations — which reduced collection system requirements for companies called on to recycle the tires, also known as Producer Responsibility Organizations (PRO).

“Since those changes were made we’ve all been having problems. The current system is not working,” Rouvas said.

Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks agrees. It is proposing massive changes, to ensure tires are collected quicker and when they’re not, penalties for those tasked with recycling tires are higher.

“It would require PROs to collect from any site with 50 or more tires available for collection and process those tires within three months of pick up,” said Ministry spokesperson Gary Wheeler.  “We have also proposed to strengthen RPRA’s enforcement tools by removing the $1 million cap on administrative penalties, creating stronger deterrents against non-compliance.”

The Ministry recently held a 30-day consultation on the proposed regulatory changes and is considering feedback received to inform next steps.

Shop owners, however, say they can no longer wait for those proposals to become law. With no set timeline on when that will happen, Rouvas, and others, are left waiting as their already-huge piles of used tires keeps getting bigger.

“This problem needs to be fixed and it needs to get fixed really fast.”

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