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It is an eye sore in the small southern Saskatchewan community of Assiniboia, and calls for the SaskParty to do something about it are getting louder.
A large collection of tires can be seen at the old Assiniboia Rubber Recyclers (ARR) plant which PC candidate Brian Archer calls “unsightly”. Archer wrote a letter to Premier Brad Wall on Feb. 10 calling for the province to do something about the problem.
Archer states the giant stack of tires “is a breeding ground for rats and mosquitoes, as well as a fire hazard”.
ARR was a tire processor contracted by the Saskatchewan Scrap Tire Corporation (SSTC). It shut down on Feb. 19, 2014 leaving approximately 45.4 million lbs of tires and process materials at the site. The facility has gone into receivership.
Archer added in his letter “your party, while in opposition, severely criticized the then NDP government for allowing the plant to close. The plant was restarted under different management but has now been closed for many years, and its equipment sold off. The tires remain.”
Archer wants the government to come up with a solution before the provincial election in April.
The province reports that it has been in regular contact with the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, the Saskatchewan Urban Municipal Association, the Saskatchewan Scrap Tire Corporation, and the town of Assiniboia about the yard. All parties involved will continue working together to find a solution to the issue.
Emergency Management and Fire Safety is also working with the town, according to the province, with the office of the fire commissioner doing due diligence in assisting the Assiniboia Fire Department in completing fire inspection and notifying town officials of deficiencies under the National Fire Code and Fire Protection Act.
Before ARR shut down, SSTC had repeatedly written ARR to inform them of their concerns regarding the amount of inventory at the site and ARR’s non-compliance with the National Fire Code.
Ministry staff have been in contact with the receiver (Ernst and Young) and SSTC to determine possible options to address the tire and product inventory at the ARR site.
