The recycling system in Ontario is broken and we believe Consumer fees are being misdirected to enrich private corporations and American recyclers. Without immediate fixes more Ontario jobs will be lost and local businesses will close for good.

Companies (manufacturers, retailers and distributors) are responsible for funding the recycling of Tires, Batteries and other goods. Called Producers, these companies collect millions of dollars in fees from consumers when they buy new tires and batteries. These fees are often called an Environmental Handling Fee (EHF) or Tire Stewardship Fee (TSF). The Producers have created Producer Responsibility Organizations, (PROs) which act as agents for the Producers. The provincial Regulator, the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA) was established to regulate the PRO’s and Producers to ensure that they are accountable for their recycling targets. E360S has created its own PRO, to provide collection and recycling processing services for tires and batteries.

Under this provincial framework and legislation, the Producers and the PROs created by them are substantially missing their recycling targets. Recycling rates in Ontario are plummeting; recycling and collection businesses are closing, and Ontario workers are losing their jobs. It is E360’s opinion that this is due in large part to the Producer created PRO’s, which we believe have pushed competition out of the recycling market in an attempt to depress recycling costs and competition in the market, consequently undermining the recycling system in Ontario.

Ontario Consumers pay for the recycling fees. Where did the money go?

We are concerned that fees paid by Consumers to pay for recycling are being misdirected by the Producer created PROs to enrich private corporations and American recyclers. Without immediate fixes to this system more Ontario jobs will be lost, and local businesses will close for good.

Recycling rates in Ontario are plummeting; businesses are closing and Ontario workers are losing their jobs. This is happening even as large PROs and Producers collect millions of dollars in fees from consumers when they buy new tires and batteries (often called an “Environmental Handling Fee – EHF” or “Tire Stewardship Fee – TSF”), directing a portion to pay for recycling at US-based firms.

"The provincial Regulator, the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA) that is supposed to keep the PRO’s and Producers accountable is ineffective, slow and bureaucratic, lacking an understanding of how commercial markets work and to date has cowed in the face of opposition from the PROs and large multi-national corporations they are supposed to regulate."

Cheaper to Pay Penalties

In March 2025, the regulator finally took some action to try and hold Producers accountable. Issuing Penalty Notices to 45 Tire Producers and 3 Battery Producers. Unfortunately, because of how these penalties are structured in the Regulation, it’s often significantly cheaper for Producers to pay the Penalties than to pay for the recycling. To add insult to injury, they don’t actually have to “pay” anything for these Penalties, because we have been told their PROs have promised to reimburse them from the extra money they have collected from Ontario’s consumers, meaning Ontario Consumers are paying the fines for these large companies that have missed their recycling requirements.

This was not what anyone had in mind when this recycling legislation was introduced in Ontario. The promise was more recycling, more investment in Ontario, more jobs and more innovation. Instead, we have the opposite, Ontario’s recycling sector is being hollowed out, what money is being spent by PROs on recycling is largely flowing to US companies, recycling rates are down significantly and consumers are paying more.