why not tires...??

One of the things I've learned on SMF is that people will try to recycle about anything to make some coin. I think scrappers do a great service to society. And, yet, a major discard of our modern society, vehicle tires, seem like such a PIA to get rid of and recycle. My question is why...?

I would think instead of various scales of governments worrying about and having many tough regulations on tire disposal, you'd think (and maybe there is some of this going on), the US EPA, Dept. of Energy, big state environmental protection agencies, would be fostering research on how best to reuse material from old tires. It makes no sense to me to see (and probably there are a lot of fewer of these nowadays) piles of hundreds of thousands of tires laying around being wonderful vermin and vector breeding grounds and just waiting to catch on fire. Sort of mind blowing. These are some of the problems that our elected leaders and the media should work on instead of wondering if The Donald paid some prostitutes to p*** on a bed that BO supposedly slept in the past...

I currently work at a tire retread and service shop and I can give an insight of how the chain works from my limited knowledge.

We charge the customer $2.50 to $10 per tire for a disposal fee, depending on the size. We then load up a 53ft container with then, usually about 300 semi tires per, and have a company come pick up the container at a cost of $700 per pick up.

The real money is charging the disposal fee, and packing a container up.

What happens to those tires after they get picked up...?

I think they are inspected and if they are for trucks and are not damaged they get retreaded and resold. There are so many new cheap tires from places like Romania that retreading passenger tires is not cost effective.

A few companies purchased them and made mountains of them for extracting oil when a barrel was $100+ but nothing was done with them, and if they catch fire will burn for years making a huge mess.

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Originally Posted by andrew1990

I currently work at a tire retread and service shop and I can give an insight of how the chain works from my limited knowledge.

We charge the customer $2.50 to $10 per tire for a disposal fee, depending on the size. We then load up a 53ft container with then, usually about 300 semi tires per, and have a company come pick up the container at a cost of $700 per pick up.

The real money is charging the disposal fee, and packing a container up.

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Yes when ever I sold tire casing to a re-treader was always charged a disposal fee on casings that did not pass the requirements to move further down the line to be capped. If your sending in casings you have to be diligent on your pre-inspections and not send in stuff that is going to end up costing you money in disposal fees.


I've had some good pay days sending in semi tires, undamaged virgin casings pay the best.

Some reclaimed tires get sold off for export. Not every country holds vehicular safety in as high regard. I deal with a used tire sales warehouse who routinely fills truck bodies for shipping and export to West Africa. He sells the best ones locally, those which pass state inspection, but that's just a tiny amount of what he receives. There are some "Tirez 4 Sale" guys around who do something similar, though without inspection, which is a pretty huge risk to take, since they are on the hook if those tires are the reason for an accident. He's mentioned that he's had people steal from his "fail" pile and he's taken to slicing a chunk out of the ones he downgrades (the ones that don't wind up going overseas).

I also once went (by accident) to a slideshow about one man's trip to Mongolia, where he noticed a large number of local vehicles were outfitted with Firestone tires, despite the decided lack of dealerships. He copied down several serial/production ID numbers from a few sets and, upon return to the US, found that they had been part of Ford's massive tire recalls from the early 2000's.

But realistically, very few tires ever see re-use; the markets just aren't that strong and with cheaper Chinese exports being shoehorned into so many developing economies, the demand for secondhand American materials just doesn't hold up. Some recyclers like BDS have found a way to use it as construction filler but, as many people on this forum have noted, investment in domestic infrastructure is not what it was in the 1940's. A few tires were being processed as chip rubber for playgrounds but as I understand it, there were health concerns. Most tires get ground up for tire-derived fuel (TDF) and burned wherever local regulation will allow. Ticonderoga Paper wanted to include it in their mill firings but the public outcry was enormous (understandable; we've been told for years burning tires is bad so why would industrial scale incineration be less harmful?), though I am unsure if the plant included scrubbers and catalytics in their externalization. One large TDF plant, which burns for energy recovery, operates on the Maine coast, where the supposed effect on human well-being is supposedly mitigated by virtue of the smoke rolling out over the uninhabited Atlantic Ocean. Much of what our facility takes in winds up there, as I understand it.

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Originally Posted by unknownk

There are so many new cheap tires from places like Romania that retreading passenger tires is not cost effective.

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Retreads aren't allowed on passenger cars in PA. Automatic fail at inspection time.

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Originally Posted by Breakage

(understandable; we've been told for years burning tires is bad so why would industrial scale incineration be less harmful?),

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Because an incinerator burns hotter and more complete than an open burn. All of our household trash goes to a local trash to electricity incinerator. The only thing coming out of it is steam from the turbine.

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Originally Posted by Breakage

though I am unsure if the plant included scrubbers and catalytics in their externalization.

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All modern ones will.

Even coal fired power plants have scrubbers, catalysts, and flue gas desulfurizers. ( I was in the coal fired power plant business for a few years through a 3rd party service company.)
They aren't just belching black smoke all day like some of the opponents would like you to think.

Many tires are shredded and the 'rubber' is used in asphalt
...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34kp0Il9l_c
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I've always thought the same thing, there's gotta be something to do with these things.

I do know they mix ground tires into asphalt for road surfacing, but not here, I believe only certain climates it works.

they make tree-rings out of recycled tires (fake mulch), fake playground mulch, and there are plans to make nice rubber sandals from the tread or sidewall all over the net...

seems to me the best use is burning to make power or heat, like an outdoor boiler. instead of firewood, you throw in a tire or two every week...

In this area, Southeast Ma , Bob's tires in New Bedford shreds the tires and they are used for other purposes
He charges $2.00 for a passenger tire and $10.00 for a truck tire >> No rims
Charges 1/2 that if they have rims
Scrap Tire Removal in New England & New York | Bob's Tire Co. | Tire collection and recycling serving New England and New York including Massachusetts , Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.

for rims, I knew a scrapper that took a log splitter and fashioned a double splitting edge. put the tire on and it crushed the rim enough to pull the tire off by hand. that way he got the steel price for rims and just trashed the tires...not sure it worked on aluminum rims though...

Scrap Tire News | The source for news and information about the scrap tire and rubber recycling industry.

and this https://www.cga.ct.gov/2000/rpt/2000-R-0720.htm

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Originally Posted by gungatim

for rims, I knew a scrapper that took a log splitter and fashioned a double splitting edge. put the tire on and it crushed the rim enough to pull the tire off by hand. that way he got the steel price for rims and just trashed the tires...not sure it worked on aluminum rims though...

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Give me a tire hammer, 2 tire bars, and about 20 seconds and I'll have that tire off the rim without having to smash anything.

$150 worth of hand tools are a must for anyone taking a tire off a rim.

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Originally Posted by JohnC4X4

In this area, Southeast Ma , Bob's tires in New Bedford shreds the tires and they are used for other purposes
He charges $2.00 for a passenger tire and $10.00 for a truck tire >> No rims
Charges 1/2 that if they have rims
Scrap Tire Removal in New England & New York | Bob's Tire Co. | Tire collection and recycling serving New England and New York including Massachusetts , Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York.

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One of my yards buys them if they are on rims for $78 a GT. Must be 16" or smaller.

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Originally Posted by andrew1990

Give me a tire hammer, 2 tire bars, and about 20 seconds and I'll have that tire off the rim without having to smash anything.

$150 worth of hand tools are a must for anyone taking a tire off a rim.

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Local yard uses a 3-way rim crusher that works like a log-splitter for steel wheels. Aluminum wheels are done on a regular tire machine. The tire guy (that's all he does there) does a couple hundred per day. I believe the yard pays piece-work, and not a lot, for that.