Blogs

On July 7th, the Competition Bureau posted a response to proposed amendments by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks. The bureau’s comments, while notably one-sided, reinforce the value of competition in sustaining healthy markets. Surprisingly, the post also highlights a concern many stakeholders have raised for some time: Ontario’s recycling framework needs clearer rules for where competition is appropriate and where coordination is required. The broader debate has become focused on whether a recycling system should be competitive or “monopolistic,” rather than on the conditions required for competition to function effectively. That framing risks misusing the word monopoly. For example, in all other Canadian provinces, one not-for-profit organization is assigned responsibility for managing tire recycling and delivering system-wide accountability; however, that does not mean competition is absent. Competition occurs at the service-provider level, including collection, hauling, processing, and end-market development. Across Canada, this model has helped achieve some of the highest tire recycling rates in the world, precisely because it combines clear accountabili...

Ontario does not have a single, standardized tire recycling fee. The amount consumers see at the point of sale can vary depending on the tire producer, supplier, retailer and the compliance service model used by a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO). This means a fee charged at the register is not a province-wide recycling rate. This overview explains how tire recycling fees work in Ontario, where eTracks fits in, and why accurate fee attribution matters for producers, retailers and consumers. How Tire Recycling Is Managed in Ontario Ontario tire recycling has been regulated under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016 (RRCEA) since 2018 and operates under an Individual Producer Responsibility (IPR) model. Under the Tires Regulation, tire producers – including manufacturers, automakers and importers – are responsible for managing the collection and recycling of the tires they supply into the Ontario market. To meet their regulatory obligations, most tire producers work with a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO), such as eTracks, to support compliance, logistics and reporting. PROs are not government entities; they are private businesses operating in a competitive market. The PRO market is diverse, with five of the six PROs operating as for-profit entities, some vertically integra...