The cost of new tires is going up at the end of the month because of an increase in the recycling fee.

As of Sept. 1, the fee for a regular car tire in Nova Scotia will jump from $3 to $4.50. The fee for a larger commercial vehicle tire will climb from $9 to $13.50.

The prime tire-selling season starts in October, but staff at Scotia Tire are ready.

"I haven't had too many comments about it yet, but I think it's something that will come up as it becomes more known," said Philip Robinson, manager at Scotia Tire.

The fee hikes will help to cover the cost of recycling, said Carolyn Pierce, spokeswoman for the Resource Recovery Fund Board, a group that manages a network of independently owned Enviro-Depots.

Old tires go to Halifax C & D in Good Wood to be cut up into pieces. The ground-up old tires replace stone gathered from rock quarries and are used for construction and engineering projects around the province.

Pierce said more than 800,000 tires were used as fill for the off-ramp on Highway 103 at Ragged Lake.