In December 2022, Tire Stewardship of Saskatchewan (TSS) announced that CRM®, a crumb rubber manufacturing company will be investing in a new state of the art end-of-life tire processing facility in Saskatchewan.

CRM® operates nine plants in North America including plants in Ontario and Alberta and produces crumb rubber to be used in rubber modified asphalt,rubber molded products and as infill in synthetic sports fields. The province will return to having two processors in the province; the existing facility in Saskatoon and the new facility will be in Moose Jaw.

A request for proposals in 2021 for a second processor in the southern part of the province resulted in the selection of CRM® by TSS. CRM®’s product line was of interest given their established markets for higher-valued end use products which displace other more carbon intensive alternatives thereby reducing the overall environmental impact of TSS’s program. Furthermore, because of the market demand for their products, CRM® is less reliant on incentive fees ensuring that consumers receive better value for the tire recycling fees collected. In addition, the program efficiencies with two processors will result in cost savings which will be utilized to clean up old tire piles around the province.

TSS is responsible to manage end-of-life tires in the province on behalf of consumers who pay a recycling fee, and tire retailers who collect the fees. TSS has been the program operator since 2018 with a mandate to improve from past practices for recycling tires in the province, which was expensive, with many end-of-life tires remaining uncollected, or dumped in landfills and abandoned piles. And, historically, most end-of-life tires collected were processed into low value end use products like Tire Derived Aggregate.

“TSS is committed to run an efficient program on behalf of tire retailers and to encourage practices that lower the industry’s impact on the environment,” says Colin Fraser, Chair of TSS. “TSS has measured the environmental impact from the different recycling practices and knows the products CRM® produces are both high value and better for the environment.“

“We want to move the recycling industry forward in the province with partners who have the same goals as us, and CRM® will be a great compliment to our program” adds Stevyn Arnt, CEO, TSS.

Press release by TSS.