ASW Conversations: Ontario’s tire chaos, with OTDA’s Adam Moffat

The group representing Ontario’s tire dealers is warning that the province is sitting on a dangerous and growing stockpile of used tires after regulatory changes slashed recycling targets and choked off collection services across much of the province.

In this episode of Auto Service World Conversations, Adam Moffitt, executive director of the Ontario Tire Dealers Association (OTDA) explains how a technical change to recycling rules has turned into what some in the industry see as a looming environmental and safety crisis.

Moffitt said the problem began after the provincial government reviewed tire regulation in December 2024. As of January 1, 2025, two separate targets for collection and recycling were merged into a single “management target” and cut from 85 per cent to 65 per cent by weight.

“What we’re seeing today is a really large backlog of tires in the province, and a lack of collection services and recycling services being provided to tire dealers, municipalities, generally, any tire collection site across the province,” he explained.

Under the new system, producers and producer responsibility organizations (PROs) have less obligation to pick up and process the tires they help put on the road. Moffitt said that once they reach the 65 per cent threshold, they are essentially paid up — and many simply stop.

“From a PROs perspective, when they’ve hit those thresholds, there’s no more money coming in,” he noted. “The minimum thresholds, unfortunately, what we’re seeing today is what producers and PROs are working to achieve, which is definitely leaving a lot of stranded tires in the province.”

By late 2025, stockpiles were growing at dealer lots, municipal depots and private yards. Two huge piles in Stittsville and Sudbury held at least one million tires combined. With tires also piling up across collection sites, Moffitt estimates the total surplus at “probably in and around two million, maybe a little bit more.”

The risks go beyond inconvenience or lost yard space. Moffitt, who lived near the Hagersville tire fire as a child, called the current situation “a massive concern,” citing fire, environmental, health and safety, and insurance issues for shops and landlords. He said some dealers now have thousands of tires on site, especially in rural areas where there is more land and fewer nearby residents.

Insurance companies and landlords are getting nervous, he added, and in some cases are pressuring or threatening dealers despite the problem being regulatory, not operational.

The OTDA and a coalition of municipalities and industry groups are now pressing the province to act. They want emergency funding to get trucks and recyclers back to “full tilt” and a broader rewrite of the regulations to raise targets and close loopholes so producers cannot simply walk away when they hit 65 per cent.

Moffitt urged both industry and the public to get involved by contacting their local elected officials since this is a problem that will not go away on its own.

“[The] 65 per cent threshold is what the producers and the pros are aiming for, which means there is a great deal of tires in this province that will sit in piles if we don’t do something about it shortly.”

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