How to Dispose of Tires (Legally)

Usually not, and this is the one item people are most often surprised by. Most dumpster providers prohibit tires entirely because whole tires are banned from the majority of landfills, so a load with tires in it can be rejected at the transfer station and delay your whole pickup. That said, some providers will accept a small number of off-rim passenger tires for a per-tire surcharge, so the honest answer is always to ask first rather than quietly tossing them in. If tires are accepted, the surcharge varies with the local landfill fee and gets quoted before you book, and the tires need to be off their rims. For anything more than a few tires, a dedicated tire recycler or a retailer take-back program is almost always cheaper and easier than paying dumpster surcharges, so it is worth handling the tires separately from the rest of your debris.

You have four good options for old tires, and most are cheap. The easiest is a tire retailer: shops like Discount Tire, Costco, Walmart, and most local tire stores will take your old tires for a small fee, and often for free when you are buying new ones. Second, dedicated tire recycling facilities accept tires for roughly $1 to $5 each. Third, many counties run periodic tire collection events or amnesty days where residents can drop off a set number of tires free, so it is worth checking your local waste authority's calendar. Fourth, some auto parts stores and repair shops will take them. The one route to avoid is the regular trash or a landfill, because whole tires are banned in most places and illegal dumping carries real fines. Remember to take tires off their rims first, since rims can be recycled separately as scrap metal.

Tire disposal is inexpensive if you use the right channel. Tire retailers typically charge about $2 to $5 per passenger tire when you are buying new ones, and dedicated recyclers charge a similar $1 to $5 each. Oversized truck, SUV, and off-road tires cost more, often $5 to $15 or more per tire, because they are heavier and harder to process. On top of the disposal charge, many states add a small tire recycling fee (commonly $1 to $3) that is collected when you buy new tires, which is what funds the state recycling programs. If you try to put tires in a dumpster, the per-tire surcharge varies with your local landfill fee and gets quoted before you book, and it is usually higher than a recycler. Municipal tire collection events are often free for a set number of tires, making them the cheapest option when the timing works.

In most of the country, yes, it is illegal to put whole tires in regular trash or a landfill. All 50 states have tire disposal regulations, and the large majority have specific laws prohibiting or restricting whole tires from landfills, because tires trap methane gas, float back to the surface, and become fire and mosquito hazards when buried. Fines for illegal tire dumping are not trivial: depending on the state and the number of tires, they can range from a few hundred dollars into the thousands, and commercial-scale illegal dumping can reach tens of thousands. This is exactly why dumpster providers are cautious about tires, since a hidden tire in a load can create a compliance problem at the transfer station. The good news is that legal disposal is cheap and easy through retailers and recyclers, so there is no real reason to risk a fine by trashing them.

Old tires are one of the great recycling success stories, and knowing where they go makes it easier to justify the small disposal fee. Recycled tires become tire-derived fuel for cement kilns and paper mills, rubberized asphalt that makes roads quieter and longer-lasting, rubber mulch for playgrounds and landscaping, the springy surfaces on athletic tracks and turf fields, and rubber mats, flooring, and molded products. The steel belts inside the tire are recovered as scrap metal in the process. Over 80 percent of scrap tires in the United States are now recycled or recovered for energy, a huge improvement over the stockpiles that used to catch fire and burn for months. So when a recycler or retailer charges you a couple of dollars per tire, that fee is paying for the shredding and processing that turns a hazard into a useful material rather than burying it.