Lydia Sorflaten never had a problem with paying an environmental handling fee for tires because they would be recycled, but now that some of the tires will be burned, she's outraged.

"Not right," said the Shortts Lake, N.S., resident.

"It's not fair. It's not responsible. It doesn't make sense."

Project gets green light

Sorflaten was reacting a day after the province announced it was granting an environmental assessment to Lafarge Canada to allow a one-year pilot project at the company's Brookfield cement plant to burn tires as fuel in its kiln.

While the province cited reduced greenhouse gases as a reason to approve the project, Sorflaten said that misses the point. The primary concern should be increases in toxic chemicals like dioxins and furans, and heavy metals such as zinc, nickel, cadmium and manganese in the air, she said.

Sorflaten lives close to Lafarge's cement plant.

The company, which is working with Dalhousie University on the project, will use tires to replace some of the coal it uses for fuel. It follows Lafarge winning a tender for access to 30 per cent of the recyclable tires in the province from Divert NS.

Fees charged at time of purchase

Until this spring, all the tires in the province were being sent to Halifax C & D Recycling for shredding and use as aggregate in construction projects. Now, 30 per cent of the approximately one million tires a year will go to Lafarge.

When you buy tires in Nova Scotia, there is a $4.50 environmental handling fee added to the cost of each tire (it's $13.50 for a tire between 17 and 24.5 inches). That money is used to fund the diversion program, meaning C & D and Lafarge are paid for taking and processing the tires.

Lafarge is being paid half what C & D is getting — $105 per metric tonne versus $200.

The Ecology Action Centre's Mark Butler issued a news release on Friday calling on the province to release the science that backed its decision to grant an environmental approval to Lafarge. (CBC)

"I'm really upset at Divert and, personally, I don't feel like paying that [$4.50] fee if it's going toward subsidizing the fuel costs of one of the largest corporations in the world," said Mark Butler, policy director at the Ecology Action Centre in Halifax.

"It's better to recycle than fuel recovery and that's what they should be prioritizing."

Officials with Divert Nova Scotia said in an email that the tire fees have not covered the full cost of the diversion program for some time, and that any savings realized from the latest contract would be used to support the organization's mandate.

Because of a 2007 law, it is illegal to burn tires in Nova Scotia. (Pedro Armestre/AFP/Getty Images)

The decision to allocate some tires to Lafarge was about diversifying the market, they said. While Lafarge has a five-year contract for access to tires, should the company's pilot project not be successful and their need for tires disappear, Divert officials said they'd seek a new market for the tires.

But Butler said the priority shouldn't be on diversifying customers for the tires, but focusing on the best use.

"I think there should be some kind of inquiry or look at Divert. We were really upset about their recommendation and apparent support for this and I don't understand it," he said.

Illegal to burn tires

On Friday, the Ecology Action Centre issued a news release calling on the province to release the science that backed the decision.

Sorflaten, who was part of a group that successfully lobbied the then-Tory government in 2007 to reject a similar proposal by Lafarge, is further frustrated because of a law that went on the books in 2008.

Then-opposition Liberal MLA Keith Colwell introduced and got passed amendments to the Environment Act banning the burning of tires in Nova Scotia. Sorflaten struggles to reconcile that with the Liberal government's decision on Thursday.

"We worked as citizens to get this law in place. How can that be disregarded? Where's the democracy here?" she said.

A spokesperson for the Environment Department said the Environment Act doesn't need to be amended to allow tires to be burned. If Lafarge is granted an industrial approval, which is the last step before the project can began, that will serve as the permit.