Ever wonder what happens when an old tire reaches it’s end of life? Where does it go? How much of it gets reused and recycled? Today we will discuss how to recycle tires and what happens to the rubber after you recycle it.

Over 300 million tires get retired every year.  About 233 million of them are passenger tires for cars and lite weight trucks. Imagine if all of these tires were diverted to landfills or dumps. Recycling them has huge impacts on the environment and help reduce the cost and energy needed to create new products.

What Happens to Old Tires When They Are No Longer Needed

The infographic below breaks down the basics of tire recycling. How the rubber is distributed and the kind of products that get created from them.

Now that you understand the basics. Lets talk about the environmental impacts.

The first thing you need to understand is how many tires are produced a year. About 1 billion tires are made globally per year from about 450 different factories. The market is expected to eclipse 2.7 Billion by 2027.

Each of those tires contains about 200 raw materials each of which biodegrade and affect the environment differently. With passenger car tires only lasting about 50k miles/yr and the average person driving 12K/year…it creates a lot of used tire waste.

How Do You Recycle Tires Near me

There are several ways you can recycle tires and help save the environment.

• Tire Recycling Near Me – Finding a local recycling center near you that takes old tires ensures that the rubber will be recycled and reused properly. Many standard recycling centers will take old tires in any condition. Some places may even pay you for your old tires. They will turn the tires into fuel sources as well as other products such as gym mats, synthetic tracks, horse stall mats, rubber pellets, and more.
• Buy Used Tires – Supporting the used tire market helps keep tires that have enough tread wear left on the road. This will save you money instead of paying new tires and it has an environmental impact as it reduces that amount of energy needed to produce new tires.
• Sell Your Used Tires – Selling your used tires either independently or to a salvage yard also supports the used tire market. This keeps someone else from buying new tires. Sometimes salvage yards will buy your tires and then they will sell them to a tire recycling facility. There are many different ways to get cash for your used tires and recycle them yourself.
• Retread Your Tires – If you a commercial vehicle you can have old tires retreaded. Instead of getting a new set, a retreading shop can put a new casing on your old tire. This will save you alot of money. More importantly though the amount of energy it takes to produce a retread is 80% less then creating a new tire.
• Turn old tires in when you get new tires – Often when you get new tires they will take your old ones. Usually you will pay a disposal fee which varies from state to state. Shops that take your old tires will either resell them as used if they are still safe or they will sell to a recycling facility.

Keep Tires Out of Landfills and Local Dumps

Landfills and Dumps are not the place old tires should be recycled. In fact that is not actually recycling.  There are business that will collect tires from landfills and turn them into products like rubber mulch, but landfills are not ideal places for them. Many states actually prohibit you from putting tires there and it is why your local waste managemnet company won;t pick them up curbside.

The Problem With Tires In Landfills and Dumps and Why We Recycle Tires

The sheer amount of amount of tires, about 300 million, that are discarded every year would be a heavy burden on landfills and dumps. Here are some of the issues with tires and why they shouldn’t just be sent to landfills:

• Tires degrade very slowly and contain a lot of chemicals. It can take 50-80 years (or more) for a tire to degrade in a landfill.
• The chemicals in the tires can cause damage to landfill liners, which in turn cause soil and water contamination. At a dump there is no liner, the tire degrades right into the ground causing the same soil and water contamination issues, but only faster.
• Whole tires take up a significant amount of space in a landfill or a dump. This is even more problematic considering 75% of a tire is void space.
• Tires in landfills will float to the top, which damages the liner. It will also attract rodents and bugs.

How to Produce Less Tire Waste

Air Pressure and Proper Inflation

One of the easiest things you can do to save money and reduce landfill waste from tires is to check your air pressure. An under inflated or over inflated tire wears out faster creating more waste. It also means you will need to purchase tires sooner. An additional benefit is that improperly inflated tires waste more fuel. Having tires properly inflated will also save you money on gas.

Keeping Up With Maintenance

Additionally you can keep up with regular tire maintenance by having your basic routine services performed. These include, balance, rotation, and suspension alignment.

Buying Used Tires

Buying used tires is also a way to support recycling. Many used tires have plenty of tread left on them and can go for thousands of miles. When you buy used it means less new tires need to be produced. That equates to less tires in landfills and less energy to create new tires. If you have never purchased used tires before you can read our used tire buying tips.

Recycle Tires Conclusion

Tire recycling is critically important for the environment. There are many easy things you can do to support it. That includes getting paid for selling your used tires. So there is not just the environemntal incentives that drive recycling, there are financial incentives that drive recycling. That is a win win.