Saskatoon tire processing company Shercom Industries has informed the Ministry of Labor Relations that it must lay off 79 employees effective December 2.

This is the latest news after Tire Stewardship of Saskatchewan (TSS), a non-profit organization overseen by the Ministry of Environment, granted the right to recycle tires in the province to California-based Crumb Rubber Manufacturing .

Shercom Industries said this gave the American company a monopoly on tire recycling in Saskatchewan and the Saskatoon company cannot compete, with Crumb Rubber Manufacturing collecting all used tires in Saskatchewan and sending the product out of the province.

This led Shercom to close its processing plant in May last year. It now has to import its own crumb rubber from outside the province, which the CEO says leaves a much larger carbon footprint, among other drawbacks.

“At the same time, Shercom has had to import 28 million pounds of crumb rubber from British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, while all the tires are leaving. The cost to Saskatchewan’s economy — along with job losses — will be measured in millions of dollars. dollars per year on an annual basis for the foreseeable future,” said Shercom President Shane Olson.

At its peak in 2022, the former used tire recycling business employed just over 140 people, he says. Today, there are only around twenty employees left.

“It’s a huge cost to the economy, a huge cost to the environment and, of course, a huge cost to the community, because these people being laid off are real people,” Olson said.

“They are real people like you and me, with children, a rent or a mortgage, dreams, hopes.”

Olson said Crumb Rubber Manufacturing’s monopoly on Saskatchewan tires has dealt a blow to Shercom, which he considers a very successful and environmentally conscious company.

“Our business model was torpedoed and it was torpedoed by the very province that should have supported us,” Olson said.

Shercom’s president said all tire companies can apply for a license from TSS, but not Crumb Rubber Manufacturing.

“If they had applied for the permit, they would have had to enter the Saskatchewan market and compete for tires. If TSS had remained administrative, we could have done something incredible together,” Olson said.

“What they got in return was that they bought a bag of magic beans that didn’t come with a goose that laid the golden eggs. It just came with an ugly giant that came and destroyed everything that Saskatchewan people worked so hard on. establish a foothold in tire recycling.”

Olson said Shercom executives are now trying to reorient the company, which works with companies across the United States and Canada to install rubber flooring.

“Shercom is not insignificant. We’re all over Canada, all over North America. That’s because we’re one of the oldest tire recyclers. So there are options for Shercom.”

Saskatchewan NDP Leader Carla Beck on Thursday blamed Saskatchewan Party Leader Scott Moe’s government for high unemployment and bad decisions for the economy.

“This is another example of Scott Moe focusing on his own priorities rather than those of the people of Saskatchewan. One of them is making sure we have good jobs in this province,” he said. Beck said.

She said the California company should not have obtained the right to recycle tires in Saskatchewan. She said these jobs should go to Saskatchewanians.

Also Thursday, Moe said the province depends on the TSS to make these decisions.

“The government’s involvement is to put in place that regulatory operational process for those tires to be recycled. And then we rely on an industry-appointed board to make the decisions that they make,” Moe said.

“And we will always have conversations with that industry and we feel they need to make sure they have a strong recycling program here in the province.”

Beck and Olson said they believe the provincial government can intervene in situations like these, but choose not to.