The province’s largest recycler of tires and batteries is asking the Ontario Superior Court to order the government and its recycling regulator to enforce their own laws against giant manufacturers who are failing to meet green obligations.
Environmental 360 Solutions, a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) that helps manufacturers, brands, importers and retailers fulfil recycling requirements, says the industry regulator’s “unwillingness” to enforce the law is putting the entire recycling system — and the environment — at risk, according to a notice of application filed in late September.
It maintains the government needs to overhaul management of the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA), which oversees Ontario’s recycling laws.
In an emailed statement to the Star, a RPRA spokesperson called the court action “misguided,” adding that “none of E360s’ legal maneuverings will distract us from continuing to enforce the legal requirements set out in Ontario’s regulatory framework for recycling.”
The Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks said it is reviewing the notice, but refused to comment further as the matter is before the court. None of the allegations have been proven in court.
Environmental 360 Solutions is already reducing shifts and laying off employees at its tire recycling plant in Barrie due to a decline in recycling activity in the province, says company vice president Andrew Horsman. Soon it might have no option but to shut down the facility for good, he said.
For Ontarians, “the real consequence here of this failure to enforce is that not only are we not advancing” on the recycling front, said Horsman, “we’re moving backwards.”
Ontario’s recycling programs have been in turmoil since the Ford government implemented new rules for tires in 2019 and batteries in 2020, making producers of the materials responsible for operating and paying for such programs, and becoming the first province to abandon a government-run one-program model for waste management.
Since the new rules were introduced, the biggest producers of tires have fallen short of annual collection targets, according to RPRA data. Producers are required by law to retrieve 85 per cent of the weight of tires they supply to the market, or roughly all tires supplied, assuming they become lighter after use. In 2022, the latest year for which RPRA data is available, the collection rate was 81 per cent.
Meanwhile, certain battery producers failed to make “best efforts” to meet their minimum management requirements in 2022, according to the RPRA. In fact, PROs reported retrieving 12 per cent of the supply for single-use batteries and 13 per cent for rechargeable ones, versus the RPRA’s 40 per cent target for both categories.
Producers that don’t meet their targets can purchase credits from those that over-collect and recycle to comply with the law. Environmental 360 Solutions says it generates more credits than its producer clients need. But without enforcement, the recycler says it is facing financial harm because other PROs have no incentive to purchase the extra credits.
“We are collecting tires, collecting batteries, bringing them back to our facilities, processing them, and, under a properly functioning market, we would then sell the surplus activity,” said Horsman.
But now, without the “obligation to make sure recycling happens, nobody’s prepared to pay for those recycling services,” he added.
Most producers of tires and batteries in the province have partnered with two main PROs: eTracks Tire Management Systems for tires, and Call2Recycle for batteries. Both companies control the majority of market share for recycling management of those materials.
Call2Recycle declined to comment for this story.
Steve Meldrum, CEO of non-profit eTracks, said the company had routinely purchased credits from Environmental 360 Solutions until 2023. But since January, he said the PROs haven’t been able to agree on a price for the credits.
“We want to do the right thing and buy every credit that’s available,” said Meldrum. “This is the first year that a PRO has gone out … to over-collect and then try and force the sale back.”
Meldrum said Environmental 360 Solutions’ pricing is roughly double of what the other three PROs agreed to charge eTracks.
Horsman, however, said Environmental 360 Solutions’ service costs as the province’s largest PRO and recycler have indeed increased, mainly because it now has to move tires out of the province due to declining recycling capacity in Ontario.
In August, eTracks wrote a letter to Environment Minister Andrea Khanjin along with General Motors, Ford, Pirelli, Michelin and others. The letter, obtained by the Star, urges Minister Khanjin to amend the tire regulation by 2025 to prevent “unintended marketplace behaviour that benefits neither the environment, nor Ontarians.”
The government is currently conducting public consultation as part of the larger process of amending the tires and batteries recycling regulations.
Maury Shnier, founder and president of Mobius PRO, agrees that the regulation as it stands creates a lot of uncertainty for everyone involved and needs to be clearer.
“How it impacts consumers in Ontario is, the intended regulations are meant to create a competitive marketplace. But … the marketplace is not terribly competitive,” he said. “It’s not a real hospitable place to invest.”
