VICTORIA, B.C. (Jan. 9) — Tire Stewardship British Columbia, a not-for-profit, private organization including most of the tire industry representatives in the province, has taken over responsibility for British Columbia´s scrap tire management and collection.
The orderly transition from the state-run Financial Incentives for Recycling Scrap Tires program was completed Jan. 1, according to Glenn Maidment, president of the Rubber Association of Canada and a board member of TSBC. Under the program, the province´s 2,600 tire retailers will stop collecting the $2.54-per-tire fee ù- collected under the FIRST program since 1991 ù- and start collecting an Advance
Disposal Fee ranging from $3.39 per tire for passenger and light truck tires to $29.69 for logger/skidder tires.
The previous fee hadn´t been sufficient to pay for scrap tire programs for the past five or six years and had to be supplemented by additional tipping fees, Maidment said, so consumers won´t notice much of a difference in tire prices.
"We´re confident these rates will be sufficient for a significant number of years, so we can do more," he said. "They yield a more substantial program." All the money collected from ADFs will go to fund scrap tire abatement, education, research and market development programs, he said.