Saskatoon’s Shercom Industries has filed a statement of claim against the Province of Saskatchewan, and Tire Stewardship of Saskatchewan and its CEO Stevyn Arnt, alleging breach of contract and “injurious falsehoods.”
Tyre Stewardship Saskatchewan is a non-profit that oversees tyre recycling in the province. It recently allocated tyre recycling provision to CRM, an American company, in a move that caused the shut-down of Shercom’s operations.
The statement of claim filed on November 8 seeks $10 million in damages against the province, and unspecified “punitive and/or exemplary damages” against the TSS and Arnt.
The province and the TSS have 20 days from the filing of the statement of claim to file a statement of defence.
The lawsuit alleges the province failed to honour a commitment to Shercom for a long-term contract, assurance of tyre supply, and a voice in the future of the industry after a fire occurred at the facility in 2016 and a $10 million investment was subsequently made to re-build a state-of-the-art business where scrap tyre recycling could take place.
According to the claim, up until Shercom’s contract was effectively cancelled by TSS, it was recycling approximately $50 million of used tyres per year at its facilities north of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.”
The lawsuit also alleges that California-based Crumb Rubber Manufacturing, which now collects all scrap tyres in the province, is simply “shredding tyres for size reduction and shipping them out of the province,” rather than recycling them in Saskatchewan and creating value-added products like playground rubber and landscaping tiles with the recycled materials, as Shercom does.
