Tyre recycling guide

Safe Disposal of Scrap Tyres: Understanding Tyre Recycling in the UK

Tyres that are in good working condition are essential for your car to be able to safely transport you from one place to another. And when it comes to road safety, there’s no room for savings – driving with damaged tyres can end up damaging the vehicle itself, but, even more importantly, it can lead to accidents and endanger both you and other people on the road as well.

But while no one is going to argue the importance of replacing their old and used tyres, the importance of recycling tyres is often overlooked.

Even though since 2006 tyres are banned from landfills in the UK, and new, more environmentally-conscious ways of tyre disposal are available, for many people, it’s still not entirely clear what to do with scrap tyres and what the tyre recycling in the UK looks like. Yet possessing such information can help us understand why this process is so important.

HOW ARE TYRES RECYCLED?

Since tyres are made of various materials and chemicals, they are definitely not the easiest products to recycle. If our goal is to recycle each of those elements properly, we need to remember that they cannot be recycled together. In such a case, before the actual recycling process can start, it’s important to separate them. It can be achieved by granulating each tyre into smaller pieces and extracting different materials. Only once this step is completed, each of them can be recycled in the right way without getting mixed up and contaminated.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that old tyres can not only be recycled but also upcycled – both ways offer you different options, so it’s a good idea to consider which one will work best for you.

Recycled rubber can be used to retread tyres, but also in the manufacturing process of completely new products.

Your old tyres can also end up getting incinerated for energy that will fuel that manufacturing process.

Upcycling, on the other hand, doesn’t involve reusing recycled materials – in this process, you get a chance to give your old tyres a second life in a more creative way. When you think about it, you’ve probably already seen them being used in such a way. Whether they are turned into a garden planter, used as a part of a playground, or for sport training purposes – it’s a good way to turn waste into something useful.

HOW CAN YOU DISPOSE OF YOUR OLD TYRES?

It’s one thing to know that recycling is important, but knowing how to dispose of your old tyres safely is a completely different matter altogether.

Here are a few ways to help you recycle your tyres:

Since tyres have to be recycled, they cannot be collected along with the rest of your household waste. However, many companies that offer rubbish collection offer to collect them as an additional service. So when you’re looking for cheap rubbish removal in North London or other places, it’s worth checking whether your chosen company will take your scrap tyres as well.
Many garages and tyre dealers give you a chance to leave your old tyres with them when you buy new ones. There may be a small fee involved, but it takes the trouble of tyre disposal out of your hands.
Recycling hazardous waste is one of the responsibilities of your local council, so whenever you feel unsure about the right way of disposing of such materials, you can contact them for more information.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF RECYCLING TYRES?

For years old tyres used to end up in landfills, where they took a long time to decompose while also releasing harmful chemicals into our environment. Recycling them is a much safer and more environmentally-friendly way to deal with them. It’s not only an effective way to fight the pollution, but it’s also helpful when it comes to saving the limited amount of natural resources we have. And since we can use the materials we already have during the manufacturing process of new products – including new tyres – it lowers the costs as well. In short, recycling tyres has many environmental and financial benefits.