Backgrounder

July 8, 2008

MELBOURNE TIRE SITE

The Melbourne Tire Site is the largest known illegal tire site in Ontario. In 2004, the Ministry of the Environment estimated that there were more than 300,000 stockpiled tires at this site. The used tire site is privately owned and situated in Middlesex County, approximately 35 kilometres southwest of the City of London.

Any property that stores more than 5,000 used tire units on-site is required under provincial waste management regulations to have a Certificate of Approval issued by the ministry. This site has no such approval.

In 2007, the Middlesex-London Health Unit issued a report examining the health risks associated with this site. It concluded:

• The tire site posed a potential risk of West Nile virus human infection to local residents.
• Due to the amount of tires on the site and the method of storage, treatment with pesticides or drilling holes into the tires for drainage was not a feasible option in reducing the risk of West Nile.

In its current condition this property also presents a fire risk.

Exhausting all other options and with a potential risk to the environment and to the health and safety of the surrounding community, in March 2008 the government announced it would spend almost two million dollars to remove the used tires from the site and manage them in an environmentally responsible way.

The Melbourne Tire Site will be the third major tire site cleanup undertaken in Ontario after Otterville and Manitoulin. Otterville was located in Oxford County and cleaned up by the province in 2004; the used tire site at Manitoulin was located on a First Nations reserve and undertaken by the Federal Government in 2007.

Photos:

• Bill Lane Tire Site
• Tire Walls
• Side Walls

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Contacts:	Contact information for the general public:
John Karapita, Minister’s Office, 416-314-6736 John Steele, Communications Branch, 416-314-6666	ontario.ca/environment-news Disponible en français

 

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