The revised fees more accurately reflect the actual cost of collecting and recycling these various categories of tires. The new fees also bring Saskatchewan’s rates more in line with those levied in other provinces.
Tire Recycling Fees See First Increase in 10 Years • • • • • For the first time in more than a decade, tire recycling fees in Saskatchewan are going to be increasing. The new fees were announced by the Saskatchewan Scrap Tire Corporation (SSTC) Chairman Don Schlosser, and are scheduled to take effect February 1, 2007. The tire recycling fee is the levy that retailers must collect on every tire sold in the province, then remit to the Scrap Tire Corporation to operate Saskatchewan’s tire recycling initiative. The new rates will vary depending on the type of tire. For passenger car and light truck tires, by far the largest category sold, the fees will increase 50 cents from $3.50 to $4 per tire. For medium truck tires, the recycling fee will increase from $5 to $9 apiece. For
agriculture tires, the new rate will be $15 each, up from $10. And for the larger “off the road” tires, such as those used on mining equipment, the fees will rise from $35 per tire to an average of between $35 and $75 apiece. Schlosser said the rate change became necessary because the old fees that sustained the program through its first decade no longer covered the cost of reclaiming and recycling used tires. “The old fees were set ten years ago,” Schlosser stated. “Since then, the cost of virtually all inputs, particularly fuel and utilities, have risen dramatically. Without an increase, Saskatchewan residents would have seen this important environmental initiative wound down and discontinued, which is really in nobody’s best interest.”
The tire recycling program has been doing good, important work that has benefited every citizen of the province in some way, Schlosser said. “It’s cleaning up the environment, contributing to the economy, extending the life of municipal landfills, and recycling a potentially hazardous waste product into useful, marketable items” With just three paid staff members and a volunteer board of directors administering the entire province-wide program, Schlosser added that the SSTC is delivering the initiative in a very cost-effective manner. “We don’t have a huge administration, and we’re not a branch of government. Almost every dime we collect through this program goes directly towards collecting and recycling tires. That’s definitely not going to change”
TI RE RE CY CLING FE E S CHE DULE EFFECTI V E FE BRUARY 1 , 2 0 0 7 RATES WI LL BE:
LEVY $ 4.00 (+GST)
LEVY $ 35.00 (+ GST)
SIZES 8" TO 30" Passenger (P)/Light Truck (LT) ATV/Front Tractor/Implement (except 16.1/Skid Steer) Lawn & Garden Equipment (if applicable)
All Grader/Dozer loader/Small OTR up to 25" All Forestry Tires Rubber Tracks On All Agricultural and Industrial Equipment
LEVY $ 9.00 (+ GST) SIZES 15" TO 24.5" All truck and industrial tires not marked "LT" 16.1" Implement/Skid Steer/Solid Industrial Press-on
LEVY $ 75.00 (+ GST) All Off The Road/ Mining/Earthmover 25" - 39" * OTR tires that exceed 39" are not part of the Scrap Tire Program. No recycling fee applicable and no disposal service provided.
LEVY $ 15.00 (+ GST) SIZES 24" TO 50" Agriculture (All Rear & Front Wheel Drive) All industrial R4
PO Box 1936 Regina SK S4P 3E1 Tel: 306.721.8473 Fax: 306.721.1585
ISSUE 1
WINTER 2007
TREADS •
Re-tire Reclaim Recycle
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Saskatchewan Tire Recycling Program Celebrates Milestone:
Once this phase is complete, phase three of the program will begin, which focuses on cleaning up the private tire stockpiles that can be found on farmlands and properties throughout the province.
The Saskatchewan Scrap Tire Corporation (SSTC) is proud to have celebrated a recycling milestone this year.
Schlosser stated that the success SSTC has enjoyed so far has only been possible because of the tremendous support the tire recycling program has received from Saskatchewan people, provincial tire retailers, and the corporation’s member associations.
E I G HT MI L L I O NT H U SE D T IRE CO L L E CT E D
On November 1, 2006, the non-profit, non-government association marked the eight millionth used tire collected in Saskatchewan under the province-wide tire recycling program. The milestone comes just ten years into the tire program’s history, demonstrating the tremendous success it has had diverting millions of potentially hazardous and environmentally harmful nuisance products from the Saskatchewan waste stream and recycling them into useful, marketable items. “Most people probably don’t know that the small recycling fee they pay when they re-tire a vehicle or buy a new car has made such a huge difference for the environment. Can you imagine what eight million tires would look like in a landfill?” said SSTC Chairman Don Schlosser. “Instead, the rubber from these tires has been reclaimed and recycled into products like patio paving blocks and safer playground surfaces for children. Tires recycled in Saskatchewan have been put to many good uses, from sports fields in our communities to
better road and street construction projects,” Schlosser added. “Truck bed liners, livestock feeders, vehicle ramps, planters, mats - they’re all being made from our scrap tires, and we’re finding more good uses all the time.” The Saskatchewan tire recycling program is being delivered in three phases. Phase one involves the collection of scrap tires at tire dealer sites as they are generated. When new tires are put on a vehicle, the retailer sets the old tires aside for pick-up by an SSTCapproved collector, who then transports them to a processing facility to be recycled. This keeps the used tires out of the waste stream so that the problem doesn’t grow any larger than it already is. Phase two involves the clean-up of scrap tires found in municipal garbage dumps across Saskatchewan. Over the past ten years, SSTC and its partners have cleaned over 150 urban and rural landfills of tire stockpiles that have built up over several decades. This has added years to the lives of these important and expensive pieces of infrastructure, helped the environment, and reduced the health and safety risks posed by the scrap tires. Approximately 140 more landfills have yet to be reclaimed.
“The program is doing some terrific, important work across Saskatchewan, and everyone who has played a role in its success should be proud,” Schlosser said. “I think it’s fair to say we’ve exceeded all expectations that may have been projected for our first ten years of operation. With the ongoing support of our stakeholders, we plan to continue that trend well into the future.”
SSTC Chairman Don Schlosser loads the eight millionth tire collected under the province-wide tire recycling program into the truck that will transport it for processing
New Owner, New Operator for Assiniboia Recycler:
SSTC B Y TH E N U MB E R S
Success Where The Rubber Meets The Rubber…And The Road:
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AR R TEAMS U P W ITH PER MA L I FE P RODUCTS L L C
The new owners of an Assiniboia tire recycling facility say the facility could expand to employ more than three dozen people in 2007. Assiniboia Rubber Reycling (ARR), newly formed by residents of Assiniboia and area, has acquired the ownership of Prairie Rubber Corporation (Prairie) which owns a tire recycling facility located in Assiniboia. The primary shareholders of ARR are former minority shareholders of Prairie. The plant was closed earlier this year but Assiniboia Rubber Recycling President Ted Hillstead said it will soon be back in full scale operation. “This facility is an integral part of Assiniboia’s economy and tax base. It has the capacity to employ upwards of forty people full-time when it reaches full operation in the new year. It has already attracted employees from Alberta back to Saskatchewan,” said Hillstead. Hillstead says the plant recycles tires
into valuable end products that are part of the tire recycling business that has evolved throughout North America. The plant will provide increased capacity in Saskatchewan to process tires collected through the province-wide tire recycling program. “Products from this plant will be used in the manufacture and installation of artificial playing surfaces in playing fields throughout Canada and the United States. It is the safest available granular surface for children’s playgrounds at home and at school,” said Hillstead. ARR has teamed up with PermaLife Products LLC, (www.permalife.com) a leading manufacturer and marketer of granulated rubber products located in Guttenberg, New Jersey, which will operate the Assiniboia plant. PermaLife began operations to remediate the substantial inventory of tires and unsold crumb rubber at the site in late August 2006.
scrap tires that have been removed from the Saskatchewan waste stream since the tire recycling program was started 10 years ago.
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pounds of waste tire rubber that has been recycled into usable, marketable items under the program.
RUB B E R A S P HA LT H AS E CO NO M IC A DVA NTA G E S
Encouraging results from a research project involving rubber asphalt concrete have prompted an extension…literally. The initial project in July 2005 involved paving the driving lane for 20 kilometres of Highway 11 south of Chamberlain with rubber asphalt produced using crumb rubber manufactured from recycled scrap tires.
Now the project will be extended. Brian Dean, an Assistant Project Manager with Saskatchewan Highways says they will pave another section of Highway 11 with rubber asphalt this year. “That project is set in place to go next summer. It is only three kilometres, but it will be through Chamberlain where it narrows, and hopefully will reduce some
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urban and rural landfill that have been cleaned up since 1996.
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number of landfills left to be cleaned up across the province.
Shercom Industries has been in the business of tire recycling since 1993.
Dean says studies show that rubber asphalts could have a 30 year life-cycle compared to conventional asphalt which has a life cycle of 15 years. So far the results from the Chamberlain project have borne that out. “There is reduced cracking and rutting. The rutting is the big thing. It is a very stable product so it reduces rutting. Because it has this stability we can reduce the thickness so it becomes very economical to us. Generally, most people that I have talked to are pleased with this,” explained Dean. Rubber asphalt has some economic advantages – even though the initial cost of the material can be higher than conventional asphalt.
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“In this example on Highway 11, because we were able to reduce the thickness in the driving lane, we were able to reduce the thickness in the passing lane and the shoulder (where conventional asphalt was used), thus making it very economical,” said Dean.
approximate number of jobs supported by the tire recycling industry in Saskatchewan. number of SSTC paid staff members who administer the entire province-wide tire recycling program.
Encouraged by the results, Dean says the Highways Department will be open to “alternate tenders” in this year’s road building season – meaning that rubber asphalt would be used if it made economic sense for the project.
SASKATOON C OMPAN Y SEES S I GNI FI CANT DEMAND FOR PRODUCTS
Since the company’s inception, millions of pounds of scrap tires have been converted into value added product and put to beneficial end use. Shercom is a fully integrated tire recycler – meaning it is a tire collector, a tire processor and a manufacturer of end use products from recycled rubber.
Noise reduction is just one of the benefits of rubber asphalt identified by the joint research project involving the Saskatchewan Scrap Tire Corporation, Saskatchewan Highways and Transportation, the University of Regina, the City of Regina, and the National Research Council.
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• • • • • Shercom Industries on a Roll: The past year has been a very busy one for Shercom Industries. The Saskatoon company has seen significant growth in the demand for its existing product line, and has seen increased demand for new products made from recycled tires.
of the noise for the people of Chamberlain,” said Dean.
2006 saw Shercom add a number of products to the production line. In addition to successful products like parking curbs and paving stones, Shercom is now producing rubber shingles, roof top supports for air conditioners, brisket pillows for free stall dairy barns as well as new
and improved speed bumps and parking stops. Shercom was also very proud to be part of this year’s Vanier Cup in Saskatoon by supplying rubber wedges to form a safe transition from the field of play to the rubber track.
Recently the company was a part of a trade mission to Minneapolis, MN, with Saskatchewan Trade and Export Partnership (STEP). Initial results from the trip have been very positive. Shercom Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Curt Taylor, says they are looking forward to the coming year.
“We would like to thank everyone for their support this past year and look forward to even better things in the coming year. Our product range and dealer network is growing rapidly creating even more opportunities for consumers to buy products made from recycled tires,” said Taylor.