Money from fees charged by the province of Alberta's tire recycling program is piling up so quickly Environment Minister Lorne Taylor has told the board to spend more on research or reduce the $4 levy.
The Tire Recycling Management Association last year recorded a $26.6-million surplus. The association was set up by the province to collect and co-ordinate tire recycling efforts in Alberta.
"Basically, I told them it wasn't their business to be sitting on a big reserve," Taylor said. "I told them they cannot keep building that fund and one of the options we'd look at is reducing that fee."
Taylor said the government will reduce the fee if the board doesn't make meaningful investments in solving environmental issues around tires.
"They should be spending their money around research, around having to recycle tires, and the environment."
Taylor said polling shows Albertans don't mind paying the fee, but want it spent on environmental research.
The association plans to voluntarily reduce the $4 charge when progress on some outstanding challenges is made, said Doug Wright, head of the tire recycling board.
"When we solve some of these big problems . . . it has always been our plan to bring that down," Wright said.
Research initiatives include $3 million committed to strengthen asphalt by adding recycled rubber and what to do with large truck tires that are too big and tough to be recycled effectively by existing methods.
Since Sept. 1992, the association has collected $4 for every tire sold in the province. Roughly three million tires, about one for every person in the province, are thrown away each year.
The association pays companies $1.75 per tire to collect and shred them.
Companies that take the shred and make rubber crumb, the product now used in some playgrounds, get $1.10. Firms that produce rubber mats, bricks and other primary products from recycled tires get $1 per tire.
The association has been cleared by Taylor to keep an $11-million reserve, which is the amount the association would need to wind up operations if the fee were eliminated. Edmonton (Alberta) Journal