Producers’ Eyes on Ontario’s ‘Individual Producer Test Case’ Tire Regulation

November 03, 2019

Ontario continues to move forward with new policy and regulations that create, for the first time in Canada, individual producer responsibility (IPR), the dissolution of mandated, single stewardship organizations, and the establishment of the opportunity for competitive producer responsibility organizations (PROs).

Ontario’s new used tire regulation took effect on January 1, 2019 and Producers who supply a range of new tires including passenger, truck, trailer and off-the-road tires are obligated to recover and recycle the tires they individually supplied to the market. The recycling performance targets are individual to that Producer and not part of collective performance metrics as in the past. Under IPR, Producers can achieve their performance target themselves, but most have made arrangements with one of the registered PROs to undertake compliance activities on the Producer’s behalf.

Accessibility, collection and recovery targets are established in regulation and compliance, and oversight is now under the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA). RPRA has much broader mandate and regulatory tools than was previously the case in Ontario.

While competitive PROs and IPR are becoming more common around the world, the used tire regulation is the “test case” for this new approach in Ontario and has already shaped new draft regulations for batteries and waste electronics and electrical equipment, and pending regulations for household hazardous and special waste and now printed paper and packaging (blue box). Those programs are set to transition, one by one over the next one to five years.

Emterra Group, one of Canada’s largest recycling and waste management companies with a 40+ year track record, approached this new regulatory environment in Ontario with an eye to the future. How can a progressive and diverse recycling company create new business service opportunities to align with the growing corporate and social imperatives to drive toward a circular economy in Canada?

Emterra created Ryse Solutions to be a stand-alone business. It is a registered PRO in Ontario that provides tire Producers with the necessary services required to comply with the regulation including coordinating province-wide used tire collection, hauling and processing, as well as data collection and material tracking.

Emterra also recognized that the new competitive marketplace offered an opportunity to deepen services to customers and leverage its network of facilities and other assets to provide efficient and effective solutions. As other programs transition to the competitive marketplace, Ryse Solutions is evolving into a vertically integrated service provider and advisory partner for customers across the many material streams that are under increasing regulatory focus. As such, Ryse Solutions is able to provide advice and compliance reporting support, real world testing on product packaging design and development, implementation of end-of-life collection and recovery programs to meet circular economy and corporate waste sustainability objectives. This business model sets Ryse Solutions apart from other ‘tire’ PROs that registered with RPRA.

Ontario is in the early stages with its’ regulatory transformation from collective monopolies in the early 2000’s to IPR and competitive PROs to assist Producers for the post-consumer management of products and packaging they put into the marketplace. Companies expecting to operate under new regulations are watching the outcome of the tire regulation intently. Consumer groups and government are also watching the outcome closely to ensure Ontarian’s experience and access to existing services will not be negatively affected and that, ultimately, a modern producer-led system will expedite our transition to a low carbon circular economy.

 

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