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Ever wonder what happens to the old tires removed from your vehicle each time you have new ones installed? Here in New Brunswick, the answer is a lot greener today than it was in decades past.

Diverting those old tires from the waste stream, and ensuring productive recycling, is the essence of the province's Tire Stewardship Program (TSP). More than 10 million scrap tires have been successfully recovered and recycled in N.B. since the TSP began in October, 1996.

Because tires are exceptionally durable, they don't bio-degrade in the natural environment and are notoriously awkward to manage at landfill sites. Implementing the TSP has also saved our regional waste commissions millions in operating costs over the years.

New Brunswick's tire collection system operates year-round, picking up scrap units from retail outlets, after they are removed and replaced during new tire installations. Every unit recovered through the TSP is shipped to Tire Recycling Atlantic Canada Corporation (TRACC), located in the Minto Industrial Park.

TRACC generates more than six million kilograms of new rubber-based products each year from the province's scrap tires. The firm's finished goods are designed for niche markets in heavy industry, agriculture, construction, and the transport sector.

They include livestock mattresses for use in large-scale dairy operations, synthetic slate roofing shingles, precision-made gaskets for heavy industry, road repair signpost bases, and recycled rubber "bark mulch" for commercial and residential landscaping.

To promote maximum tire stewardship at the community level, the TSP also provides a scrap tire Return to Retailers service for individual New Brunswickers.

The goal is to make getting rid of old tires in your basement, garage, or shed as easy - and "green-" as possible.

Such scrap tires can be dropped off, free of charge, during regular business hours at any retail tire outlet in N.B., even if they were not originally bought at that location. Not all retailers have the same amount of on-site storage space, so please don't bring them more than five tires at any given time.

Commercial operators, or anyone else with a large number of tires ready for recycling, should contact the TSP office instead at 1 888 322-8473.

For more information about New Brunswick's TSP, visit us anytime at www.nbtire.com