How to Dispose of Old Tyres in the UK
A mixture of oil, chemicals, rubber, and metal makes tyres one of the most difficult items to dispose of in the present day. The recycling process takes specialised equipment and chemicals to complete, making it difficult to get tyres to the right place if you aren’t a company with a recycling partnership. So, what do you do with the car, motorbike or bicycle tyres taking up space in your garage? You can’t throw them into the general waste bin, and they can’t go into the recycling. Like used batteries, they just seem to pile up, don’t they?
How to Responsibly Dispose of Used Tyres
Used tyre disposal isn’t the same as normal waste disposal, but that doesn’t mean it’s out of reach. It’s easy enough to get rid of your tyres responsibly if you know where to look.
Take your Tyres to a Tyre Recycling Centre
Your local council should be your first port of call when it comes to recycling your tyres. You can find your council’s contact information on Direct Gov, where you can look up your local recycling policies.
Some councils have a cap on the number of tyres you can take without being charged, so make sure to check before you pack them into the car! Every council will dispose of your tyres safely and correctly, so it’s always worth having a look at their policies.
Call a Man in a Van
If you have more old car tyres than you can handle, our Man and Van service can take them off your hands for you. Your tyres will be passed along to one of our partners to be separated, recycled, and repurposed into new items. We prioritise sustainable waste removal every time, so there’s no need to worry about your tyres ending up somewhere they shouldn’t!
Reuse Old Tyres at Home
If your tyres aren’t quite at the end of their life, you can reuse them at home in a variety of ways. Car and motorbike tyres are great for creative gardening and landscaping if you don’t mind the aesthetic.
Whether you string them up as a swing for the kids or set them down and fill them with soil as a flowerbed, tyres can be surprisingly useful and good for saving money. They can even be used as athlete training tools and boat buffers. If you have a purpose for them, it’s always better to reuse your tyres than to get rid of them.
Tyre Disposal: What Not to Do
As with all waste, proper management is an important (and legal) responsibility. Getting rid of tyres irresponsibly is not only dangerous, but it can also result in prosecution and heavy fines. While it can be more convenient to dispose of your tyres the easy way, you should always use the proper channels to dispose of your waste - even if they take a little more time.
Don’t Burn Your Tyres
The Springfield Tire Fire is a long-running joke in The Simpsons but in real life tyre fires cause big problems.
While tyres are flammable, tyre fires are very dangerous for both humans and the environment. Fumes and greenhouse gases are released from these fires, and they have a devastating effect on the ozone layer. They can also be blown out of control very easily and put strain on nearby fire stations. You may also be fined for setting an illegal fire!
Never Fly Tip
Fly tipping is the act of dumping your waste somewhere it shouldn’t be. Public spaces, roadsides and private land are all vulnerable to fly tipping, and it’s often the trickiest waste that gets tipped - mattresses, chemicals and tyres can all pollute the environment when carelessly disposed of. Fly tipping is a crime that can result in prosecution, and it can have a devastating effect on wildlife. If you don’t know what to do with your old tyres, get some advice - don’t just ditch them!
How are Used Tyres Recycled?
Used tyres can be recycled in a number of ways, although some are simpler than others. While tyre recycling can be resource intensive and produce further waste products, many recycling centres take care to ensure that the process is as eco-friendly as possible.
Energy Production
Tyres can be burned in a controlled environment to produce heat energy. While this is great for power production, burning tyres does produce toxic gases and waste products that can still be harmful to the environment.
Rubber Crumb
By removing the metals, tyres can be processed down into small rubber flakes called rubber crumb. Tyre material is incredibly strong and can be used in rubberised road asphalt, equestrian arenas and athlete running tracks. It can also be used as carpet underlay and as lining for children’s play areas to keep them safe from falls. Rubber crumb is incredibly useful and much more eco-friendly to produce, as the recycling process is as simple as reducing ready-made tyres into crumb.
Pyrolysis
Pyrolysis is a method of reducing tyres to their basic components. Depriving the material of oxygen and heating it to roughly 400 degrees celsius reduces the rubber to its oil components, which are then treated and converted into hydrocarbons. These are then processed and transformed into propane and ethane, gases which can be used to make more plastics.
At HIPPO, we pride ourselves on our commitment to sustainability. While tyres are some of the trickiest types of waste to recycle, we’re here to make sure that they’re handled in the most eco-friendly way possible.
Check out our blog to find out more about sustainable waste management, including how to get rid of hazards such as paint and what to do if you can’t get your waste to the tip.