The Quiet Crisis

The quiet crisis of Ontario’s growing tire piles

Across Ontario right now, a slow, rubber tide is rising—behind auto shops, in back lots, and even in residential backyards. It’s not dramatic enough to lead the evening news every night, but it’s exactly the kind of creeping problem that turns into a headline only after something goes very wrong.

This is the story of tire pile‑ups in Ontario: how policy shifts, stalled logistics, and weak accountability are creating flammable stockpiles in our communities, while drivers keep paying “eco fees” at the counter and assuming the system is working. CBC

How we got here: when targets drop, piles rise

In 2019, Ontario shifted to a producer‑responsibility model for tires. Instead of a centralized program, tire producers became responsible for ensuring their products were recycled, often by hiring producer responsibility organizations (PROs) to manage collection and processing. CBC On paper, it sounded efficient: those who profit from selling tires would also pay to recycle them.

For a while, it worked reasonably well. There were clear collection and recycling targets—producers had to recycle 85 per cent of used tires collected by weight. That target created pressure to keep tires moving from shops to recyclers.

Then, in January 2025, the province cut those targets. Producers now only need to recycle 65 per cent of collected tires by weight. CBC  CBC That 20‑point drop might look like a technical tweak, but on the ground it changed the incentives. Some PROs and recyclers slowed or stopped processing, arguing they had no obligation—or economic reason—to keep up the same pace. CBC  CBC

The result: hundreds of thousands of tires piling up in depots, lots, and shops across Ontario, with some sites reportedly holding more than 500,000 tires and warnings that “millions and millions” could be stockpiled by next summer. CBC

What it looks like on the ground

Behind the policy language are very real, very physical piles.

In London, Ontario, auto centres are watching their back lots disappear under growing stacks of used tires. At Hillman’s Auto Centre, more than 100 tires sit piled around a tree, damp from melting snow, with the owner saying it’s been months since any were picked up for recycling. CBC He’s changing about 50 tires a week during snow‑tire season—many of which now just sit behind the shop. CBC

Other shop owners echo the same story: where trucks once showed up regularly, sometimes even without a call, pickups have slowed or stopped. Managers describe a sudden silence—no communication, no clear explanation, just tires accumulating and space shrinking. CBC

And it’s not just commercial properties.

In Toronto, one Scarborough backyard became an unofficial tire yard. More than 800 used tires were stacked across the grass behind a rooming house, despite a city order to remove them. Global News Neighbours described the scene as turning their street into a “city dump,” worried about fire risk, mosquitoes, and the basic indignity of living next to a growing rubber wall. Global News

When residents complained, the city issued a notice of violation under its municipal code, ordering the landlord to clear the stacks by a set date. The deadline came and went; the tires remained. Global News That small story captures the bigger problem: rules exist, but enforcement is slow, fragmented, and often reactive.

The risks we’re pretending not to see

Tire piles aren’t just ugly. They’re dangerous.

• Fire risk: Large tire stockpiles are notoriously difficult to extinguish once they ignite. They burn hot, long, and dirty, releasing toxic smoke and runoff that can contaminate air, soil, and water. Regulators and neighbours alike are already calling these growing stockpiles “flammable” and “a safety hazard.” CBC  Global News  CBC

• Health and nuisance: Tires collect water. Water breeds mosquitoes. Auto shop owners and neighbours are already noticing the potential for increased mosquito populations around these piles, especially as they sit for months in the open. Global News  CBC

• Lost space and productivity: For small businesses, every square foot matters. When the back lot turns into a tire graveyard, it squeezes operations, reduces usable workspace, and adds stress to already thin margins. CBC

What makes this worse is the disconnect between what drivers think they’re paying for and what’s actually happening. Consumers still pay about five dollars in eco fees per new tire—fees set by tire producers to cover recycling costs. CBC Yet with lower targets and stalled pickups, those fees aren’t translating into a functioning, visible recycling system.

Accountability in the shadows

The provincial regulator, the Resource Productivity & Recovery Authority (RPRA), says tire producers are still required to recycle tires from their collection sites whether targets are met or not. CBC On paper, that sounds reassuring.

But the lived reality in London, Toronto, and across Ontario suggests a gap between regulation and execution. When auto shops can’t get a pickup for months, when a backyard can sit full of tires past a cleanup deadline, and when industry experts warn of hundreds of thousands of tires already stockpiled, it’s clear the system isn’t working as intended. CBC  Global News  CBC

The current model pushes responsibility onto producers and their contracted organizations, but it doesn’t give the public a clear line of sight into who is failing, where, and what consequences they face. That opacity breeds frustration and mistrust—especially when people are paying eco fees at the counter and seeing tire piles out the back door.

Where we go from here

If Ontario wants to avoid turning “tire pile‑up” into the next disaster headline, a few things need to change:

• Restore meaningful targets: Recycling targets that are too low invite complacency. Raising them back toward previous levels—or higher—would re‑create pressure to keep tires moving through the system.

• Enforce visibility and consistently: When landlords ignore cleanup orders or producers fail to clear collection sites, consequences need to be swift, public, and meaningful. Quiet warnings don’t move mountains of rubber.

• Increase transparency: Ontarians should be able to see, in plain language, how many tires are being collected, how many are being recycled, and where stockpiles are forming. Sunlight is a powerful motivator.

• Support real recycling capacity: Policy without infrastructure is just wishful thinking. Ensuring haulers and recyclers can operate sustainably—financially and logistically—is essential if we want tires to become new products instead of permanent piles.

The story behind the stacks

Tire pile‑ups aren’t just about rubber. They’re about how we design systems, who we trust to run them, and what happens when incentives drift out of alignment with public safety.

Right now, Ontario is running a live experiment in what happens when you loosen the rules in a system that depends on constant movement. The evidence is already visible: behind shops, in backyards, and in the growing anxiety of people who don’t want to live next to the next big fire.

The tires are telling us something. The question is whether we listen before they start to burn.