Province Plans to Cleanup Abandoned Tires in Assiniboia

The massive pile of abandoned scrap tires in Assiniboia is expected to be cleaned up by the end of 2019.

The government of Saskatchewan announced yesterday they're partnering with Tire Stewardship of Saskatchewan (TSS) to clean up 6,678 tonnes of scrap tires and processed materials left behind by the Assiniboia Rubber Recycling plant that closed in February 2014.

Saskatchewan's Environment Minister Dustin Duncan said the provincial government would provide up to $3.3 million to have the tires removed and remediated.

"As part of the recycling program, people pay a levy or a fee when they purchase tires that goes to help recycle tires," he said. "These are tires that (the) fee has already been paid on, so there is no fee to be used."

According to Duncan, the Ministry of Environment issued a protective order for the site to be cleaned up.

"Because the company that owns the site is essentially insolvent, they don't have the funds to do that," he said. "That's why we felt as a government it had played itself out. We've gone through that process, there really is not a going concern to remove the tires and recycle the tires, so that's why we felt we needed to step in particularly with the threat that these tires pose to this community."

TSS has been collecting RFP's from companies this year to clean up the area and how much it would cost, and now with the government giving them money, they can move forward with awarding the tender.

"TSS did go through a competitive process, they did an RFP," Duncan said. "At this point, they're close to signing the agreement that they're going to award it to. They haven't formally signed it so we won't reveal that at this point, but early in the New Year I'm sure that we will be able to reveal who that is."