Ontario orders tire producers to add 2,200 collection sites, 220 in North

Ontario will require tire producers to establish and operate 2,200 additional tire collection sites each calendar year, at least 220 of them in Northern Ontario, under Ontario Regulation 311/26, published in The Ontario Gazette on 10 October 2026. The regulation, made under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016, amends O. Reg. 225/18 (Tires) and adds an 80 per cent management target for tires. It was made on 17 September 2026 and filed on 21 September 2026.

The amending regulation was published on e-Laws on 21 September 2026 and appears in the Gazette under Part III (Regulations) of the Legislation Act, 2006. It rewrites the collection and management obligations that apply to producers of tires supplied in Ontario and defines Northern Ontario for the first time in the Tires regulation.

2,200 more sites, 220 of them in the North

New section 9.1 requires a producer covered by section 6 — and a producer covered by section 8 who chooses to satisfy paragraph 2 of that section — to establish and operate 2,200 tire collection sites in Ontario in the calendar year, in addition to the sites already required.

• At least 220 of the additional sites must be located in Northern Ontario.
• Northern Ontario means Algoma, Cochrane, Kenora, Manitoulin, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Rainy River, Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Timiskaming.
• A producer may not substitute a reported collection site unless the site is closing or its owner or operator no longer wants it used to meet the producer’s obligations (new section 10.2).
• Where more than one producer responsibility organization operates a site, all of them must sign an agreement by January 1 of the year of use, starting in 2027.

An 80 per cent management target

Section 12 is replaced. A producer’s “management target” is its average weight of supply multiplied by 0.80, and every producer must account each calendar year for a calculated weight of managed tires that meets or exceeds that target.

• Managed tires must be collected from a location in Ontario by a hauler registered under section 17 in the same calendar year.
• The reuse, retreading or processing activity must be undertaken by March 31 of the following year.
• Producers of large tires must meet at least 60 per cent of the target with large tires.
• Mulch, landscaping material and tire-derived aggregate for roadbeds may not exceed 20 per cent of the managed weight, separately or combined.
• Land disposal, incineration, use as fuel and stockpiling cannot count toward the target.

Reporting, costs and penalties

New section 18.2 requires producers, or the producer responsibility organization acting for them, to file a report with the Authority through the Registry by January 1 each year listing the number, location and contact information of every collection site, and to update it within 15 days of any change. Producer responsibility organizations must report cost and fee data for 2023, 2024 and 2025 by 31 December 2026.

Ontario Regulation 316/26, published in the same issue, amends O. Reg. 558/22 (Administrative Penalties):

• Failure to meet the management target: $200,000 for a corporation and $40,000 for an individual.
• Acquiring tires without the required written agreement: $75,000 and $15,000.

The regulation comes into force on the day it was filed, except the shared-site agreement rule, which takes effect on 1 January 2027.

For readers in the North, the 220-site floor is the first hard geographic guarantee written into the Tires regulation, and it lands on producers, haulers, processors and retreaders who must now document every site and every tonne. The 80 per cent target and the new penalty schedule give the Authority a measurable benchmark and a $200,000 lever to enforce it.

Source: The Ontario Gazette, Vol. 159-41, 10 October 2026, Part III (Regulations), p. 3003-3008 (official reference: Ontario Regulation 311/26).