Ontario Tire Stewardship ramping up!

Building the infrastructure to handle over 12 million scrap tires annually.

The OTS Program is very quickly ramping up, and it's a good thing too, given the plan becomes operational effective September 1st. The official website www.ontarioTS.ca went live on July 6th which meant OTS could begin accepting registrations from stewards as well as service providers such as haulers, retailers and processors. If you are a steward, that is someone who supplies tires into the Ontario market, then you must register before September 1st and you must file your first remittance to OTS by October 30th, and every month thereafter.

OTS will be conducting a webinar for Stewards the morning of August 20th. We will pass along the details when we receive them, but if you have specific questions, don't wait until the webinar. We strongly urge you to contact the OTS office with your questions. Not only will they likely be able to answer your question on the spot, they are building a FAQ component to the website for commonly asked questions, so your questions will help them to communicate to other stewards.

Aside from building the infrastructure to handle the movement and tracking and processing of over 12 million tires annually, OTS is also building the communication pieces and POS material to help tire dealers explain the new program to consumers. To assist in this endeavor, a sub-committee of tire industry professionals from RAC, Canadian Tire and Wal-mart are working with a PR firm to develop these materials. You should begin to see the results of this effort by the time of the launch.

While there is still very much to do, and doubtlessly still a few missteps to make, it is not too early to thank a number of people and organizations for their immeasurable time, experience and skill to getting OTS where it is today. From the IBM Team: Ed Smith, Bob Ferguson and Nancy Brown-Andison (and a host of others!), Glenda Gies from WDO and Andrew Horsman, Executive Director of OTS. In addition, the OTS Board, always a strength of knowledge and persistence, worked tirelessly to see this through: Eric Gilbert, Usman Valiante, Jen Barbazza, Sarah Webb, Robin Hunter, Doug Hamilton, Philippe Trudel and Glenn Maidment. Equally important, the organizations which allowed, encouraged and enabled these people to participate include, Ontario Tire Dealers Association, Canadian Tire Corp., Walmart, Goodyear Canada, Michelin North America (Canada) Inc., Retail Council of Canada and The Rubber Association of Canada.