Ahh more money out of our pockets for the government. Taxes, taxes, taxes. I'm taxed near to death. Stay home, won't need tires and save money to pay other taxes.

In one European country an environmental fee is added to the purchase price of a new vehicle. This will ultimately pay for the dismantling and complete recycling of the entire vehicle when it is scrapped.

The company that does the above mentioned work gets paid (by the government)the money that initial the buyer paid up front.

Last time I read about this it was about $800 dollars.

4 dollars per new tire is "peanuts" when one considers the environment - it's only the price of a hamburger.

This is not MORE money for the government!!!!

It is LESS money for the government!!!

The government, not only here, but also in other parts of Canada, has been collecting $3 per passenger vehicle tire for 16 year.

The recycling program is now being handled directly be the industry itself. The fee is now being raised to $4, collected by the industry to run the program themselves.

Ever wondered what happens to some recycled tires?

http://www.permalife.com

Ever think that by paying for recycling, whether to government or private industry, we are subsidizing such businesses? Looks to me as if it would be a viable business without that small subsidy.

Which then raises the question, why is there no recycling fee charged for the purchase of paper products?

http://www.paperrecycles.org/index.html

It appears from that site that paper and paper board recovery in the USA is above 50%, an increase from just over 40% 11 years ago.

>"This is not MORE money for the government!"<

Obviously.

Why have stock piles been allowed to accumulate?

How much of the collected money was being used up by the usual governmental administration costs?

(I like the "mental" in "governmental.")

Perhaps, given a proper profit incentive (oops, forbidden territory?) private operators will make a better go of it?

Having been in that industry for many years before and since I have seen the changes and they are positive.

I recall when the fee was first charged and the almost immediate changes in collection of tires. Prior to the fee the tire dealer paid dearly to have all the scrap tires hauled to our local dump. After the fee, we had people banging on our doors to take them away.
The recycling end of it I am not to knowledgeable about but it has reduced filling our dumps and many more around the Province. It has generated businesses and competition in scrap tires.

The hike in the fee as Owl notes is being monitored and not put into general revenue. In addition a group of keenly interested businesses, the tire dealers association, has at arms length continued to monitor and assist program, not only in B.C. but the rest of Canada.

To me it is one of the best use of direct taxes in Canada. The problem is in the utilization of the scrap tires, which has to be economically drive. To that I cannot speak.

"Why have stock piles been allowed to accumulate?"

I do not know. Have they been stockpiling them more than people stockpile scrap metal, paper, etc. prior to shipping them off to be recycled?

Anyway, according to this Environment Canada site there are about 3/4 million tires in two stockpiles which are supposed to be drawn down on. There are about 3.2 million tires (I assume passenger tires) sold a year with about 3.4 million processing capacity.

I am sure if anyone wants more current information they could give the local BC Environment office a call to see how the stockpile is doing.

http://www.ec.gc.ca/epr/inventory/en/DetailView.cfm?intInitiative=98

This is an interesting site showing one effort to clean up a situation in the USA

http://www.epa.gov/border2012/news/tires.pdf

I support the fee if it helps to protect the environment. Its a cost of doing business. The evironment shouldn't be a free susbsidy to business.

The Simpsons town of Springfield have their own tire dump which is constantly on fire. It was my understanding that a few years ago, Ontario collexcted $25 million dollars on tire fees, spent $5 million on recycling and the rest went into general revenue. I am not making this up. As the Lieberals in Ottawa would say.

The uses of that cash include:

stock pile clean up program - good, good
public education about recycling - good, good
dispute resolution process - ???????


Dispute resolution process ??

This sounds like a do-nothing government position awarded to a party faithful.
What's to dispute ? The tire is either used or not used. It is either scrap or not scrap. There is nothing to dispute. It sounds like a secret back door to siphon money off into something else.

Consider that the average family has two vehicles. Many have both summer tires and winters. Most vehicles have one spare. So, that's 18 tires.

How about the 5th wheel, the utility trailer, the boat trailer, the quads, or the dual tired rigs pickups now have?

Now replace all of them every 3 or 4 years. This is beginning to add up to more of a significant extra bit of revenue.

It seems that dealing with my old tires is left up to me when I buy new ones. So, just how, who and where does this eco-money enter into the picture? Chester

When I went to a certain and well known tire dealer on Central to buy tires, I was knowledgable enough to wait until my total bill was tallied. I then pounced. I asked why G.S.T. was added after the tire levy was added? Seems I was paying tax on that levy. The guy behind the counter admitted this had been asked before. His other reply was, "The government wants it this way". Or words to that effect. Taxes on levies, fees, licenses. It never ends. Hands in my pockets. Hands in my pockets.

Chester

The fee on tires and batteries is charged of course when they are purchased. All tire dealers are obligated to take back tires, irregardless of whether there is a purchase. I have dropped off mine at Big O or Automagic for fifteen years now. The same can be said for batteries.

Harbinger
You are correct it is a tax on a tax... It has been since day one unfortunately. Don`t forget that the retailer then has to submit the dollars to the Government, both Provincial and Federal........this is an accounting cost of doing business. I have no answer to get around this one.

I suggest that this is another Government Scam.

Firstly. If the system we had in place at the cost of $3.00 per tire was working why do we need to change it. The Government states that they want to download this recycling venture to be run by the Tire Producers, and to be paid for by the consumers, **User Pay** rather that by the taxpayers of BC.

The problem is, in this case the Taxpayers and the Consumers are one and the same. There are very few taxpayers who do not use tires in this Province.

Now that we have established that the **User Pay** concept is a **Red Herring** we can then ask the question. Why would the tire industrie and associates want to set up a **not for profit** organization?

If you beleive that they would do this because they are good **Corporate Citizens** then you need a headscan.

The increase from $3.00 to $4.00 per passenger tire means that when you buy new tires it costs you a total of $16.00, instead of $12.00. The additional monies go to the TSBC for operating purposes.

So whats the scam?? I dont know at this point, but I have learned over time that you get absolutley nothing for nothing, and if you dont look a gift horse in the mouth, you could end up with a very sick horse.

The question has to be in the final distribution of the tires. Some are salvaged and re-sold eithier in Canada or overseas. Are they sold back to the tire industrie, at a low price, and then re-sold to the general public at a higher price?? Who knows? In any event something stinks here, and in the end it costs me more money.