A company with retail outlets in east-central Saskatchewan has pleaded guilty to selling tires without paying the required tire recycling fees.

In a release Friday, Saskatchewan's Ministry of Environment said Silk Tire Inc., which operates out of Foam Lake and Kelvington, Sask., wasn't participating in the province's approved scrap tire recycling program.

The ministry said its investigation revealed Silk Tire was not remitting tire recycling fees collected at the point of sale.

A court has ordered the company to pay $217,669 in unremitted tire recycling fees to Tire Stewardship of Saskatchewan, the not-for-profit organization responsible for the program, as well as $6,975 in accounting fees associated with the investigation and a $1,400 fine.

The company was sentenced in Yorkton Provincial Court on Aug. 27.

Anyone selling tires in Saskatchewan is required to be a part of the province's Scrap Tire Recycling Program.

They must also collect tire recycling fees from consumers at the time of purchase of new tires, or equipment/vehicles with tires. Those fees must be remitted to Tire Stewardship of Saskatchewan.

The ministry said scrap tires collected through the program are recycled into various materials including tire shred and tire crumb.

Tire shred is used as base material in roadway construction or other engineering applications, while tire crumb is used to manufacture products such as patio blocks, parking curbs and speed bumps, it said.

The ministry said the program minimizes improper disposal and diverts scrap tires from landfills, where they are a nuisance and hazard.

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