Thornhill Ontario–June 29 2010–Auto recyclers around Ontario participated in the Ontario Tire Stewardship’s (OTS) first ever Tire Amnesty over the weekend.
Under the program members of the public could bring in as many tires as they like to participating recycling yards and dispose of them free of charge. All fees associated with each tire dropped off go to the Sunshine Foundation of Canada. In addition to that Liberty Tire Recycling offered an extra $0.25/tire during the amnesty which took place Friday and Saturday. Finally the Ontario Auto Recyclers Association (OARA) will match the donations made from all tires collected.
Miller’s Auto Recycling worked hard to drum up interest in the event ahead of time by inviting local politicians out to announce the Tire Amnesty as a day to benefit the environment. A little more than a week before the amnesty Niagara Falls MPP Kim Craitor Fort Erie Mayor Doug Martin and Councillor Sandy Annunziata all joined the staff at Miller’s to announce the event to the public.
We’re still waiting to hear the fund raising totals but by all accounts the amnesty was a huge success.
“We had a great response” said Michael Carcone of Carcone’s Auto Recycling. “We’re really happy with the program.”
Dom’s Auto Parts in Courtice Ontario collected 184 tires over the course of the two days. “We had a few people dropping off 10-18 tires” said owner Dom Vetere. “Everything from truck tires to go-kart tires which was kind of a neat twist on it.”
Among those who dropped off tires at Dom’s was Chris Brown who took advantage of the amnesty to clear out some old clutter. “I got rid of my environmental mess” he told us.
David Gold over at Standard Auto Wreckers also had a positive experience with the event. “Most of the people who came were just regular customers off the street who had some extra tires in the garage” Gold said. “They’d heard about the program and brought in the four or six tires they had hanging around and it was great!”
All together about 80 recycling yards participated in the event. Take a look!
If you have photos from the Tire Amnesty please send them along as we can include them in the gallery.
