Ontario recycling authority to pay $7.44 million to tire producers that exceeded 2023 targets
RPRA will distribute $7.44 million from producers that missed 2023 targets to those that exceeded them, a sum equal to eco-fees consumers paid on unprocessed tires.
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By Torontoer Staff
The Resource and Product Recovery Authority will distribute $7.44 million in settlement funds to tire producers that exceeded their 2023 recycling targets, the regulator announced this week. The payment comes from producers that failed to meet the target and is intended to reimburse those that processed more tires than required.
RPRA said the settlement amount approximates the eco-fees collected by underperforming producers, about $4.50 per tire, had they met the provincial target. The authority rejected suggestions that the distribution would affect consumers.
How the settlement works
Under Ontario’s producer responsibility framework, companies that manufacture or sell tires, or sell products with tires, must manage a percentage of the tires they place on the market. For 2025 to 2029 the management rate is 65 per cent by weight, a reduction from the prior 85 per cent rate. When producers fall short of their targets they may be required to pay settlements to peers that exceeded theirs.
RPRA said the $7.44 million payout simply reallocates funds so that producers who collected fees but did not meet obligations do not retain profit from those fees, while producers that exceeded their obligations are not penalized for doing so.
This has no impact on consumers. All we’re doing is making sure tire producers who collected recycling fees are not profiting from them and making sure tire producers who exceeded their target are not being penalized for doing so.
Wilson Lee, RPRA chief of programs and public affairs
Context: stockpiles and changing targets
The settlement announcement follows revelations that hundreds of thousands of tires were illegally stockpiled at sites in Sudbury and Ottawa last year. Authorities said those stockpiles represent millions of dollars in eco-fees paid by consumers, fees that were effectively not processed because of disruptions after the province lowered recycling targets in December 2024.
The government reduced the mandated management rate from 85 per cent to 65 per cent for the years 2025 to 2029. That change meant more tires were collected and delivered for processing in 2024 than producers ultimately needed to meet the new, lower targets, contributing to the accumulation at some collection sites.
These funds, which could have been used to help address Ontario’s current tire recycling issues, are instead going back to producers who have already recouped recycling fees when selling their tires into the retail market.
Adam Moffatt, executive director, Ontario Tire Dealers Association
Moffatt warned that the carryover of unprocessed tires into 2026 could allow producers to reach their targets earlier in the year, a concern for dealers and others in the recycling chain.
Role of producer responsibility organisations and eTracks
Producer responsibility organisations, or PROs, operate collection and recycling networks on behalf of producers. eTracks, the largest PRO in Ontario, manages recycling for about 70 per cent of the province’s tire producers and was the representative that settled with RPRA on behalf of 29 producers that missed their 2023 targets.
Both of the recently identified stockpile sites were registered collection locations under eTracks. The company said the sites are independently operated and not exclusively contracted to eTracks. The firm has begun removing tires tied to its program, and said all eTracks-managed tires at those locations will be cleared by early February.
Each site is actively being emptied of any tires related to eTracks and all eTracks tires will be gone by early February.
Melissa Carlaw, vice-president of communications and sustainability, eTracks
Carlaw said the current disruption stems from a lack of a coordination mechanism in the regulation to prevent producers and PROs from stopping or slowing collection once they have reached targets. She described the problem as systemic, affecting producers, haulers, processors, collection sites and PROs.
Government response
The Ministry that oversees waste policy said it is working with RPRA to ensure producers and PROs maintain collection and recycling networks so that tires are picked up, sorted and processed in a timely fashion. RPRA said using settlement funds to clear stockpiles would be a temporary fix and would not resolve the underlying regulatory or operational issues.
RPRA first announced the existence of the settlement for missed 2023 targets in June 2024 but did not disclose distribution details until this week. The settlement covered a group of producers that includes major companies such as Bridgestone Canada Inc., Ford Motor Company of Canada Limited, General Motors of Canada Company and Goodyear Canada Inc.
- Settlement amount: $7.44 million
- Typical eco-fee collected: approximately $4.50 per tire
- Producer management rate: 65% for 2025–2029, down from 85%
- PRO with largest market share: eTracks, servicing roughly 70% of producers
- Stockpile locations: Sudbury and Ottawa
Stakeholders said they are awaiting regulatory fixes to prevent future mismatches between collection activity and targets, and to ensure eco-fees paid by consumers support timely recycling rather than accumulating as unprocessed inventories.
recyclingenvironmentOntarioRPRAtire-recycling
