Everything you need to know about tyre recycling

Have you ever thought about what happens to your car’s old tyres when you replace them? Left to degrade in landfill, the average tyre takes 50-80 years to break down. That might not sound too bad, until you consider that Australia alone sees more than 450,000 tonnes worth of passenger tyres reach the end of their lifespan every year. That’s a lot of rubber!

The good news is that the rubber can be recovered and used in a variety of ways, from reducing the use of coal as a fuel source to creating new products. Recycling tyres helps to reduce our impact on the environment, while minimising space taken up in landfill. It’s a win for everyone!

What are your tyre disposal options?

When you recycle tyres, it keeps them out of landfill and creates new products that can be used in a range of applications. There are a few ways to go about it. To begin with, mycar offers tyre disposal free when you buy new tyres, which means you don’t have to lift a finger. Another option is to take your old tyres directly to a recycling centre, although there may be a small fee involved. Finally, you can also recycle tyres at home by turning them into helpful or even decorative items.

How to recycle tyres at home

While there are plenty of recycling plants that will take old tyres, recycling can be done right in your own backyard. If you have a few of them lying around at home, with a little imagination and research, you can find dozens of uses that will give your old tyres new life.

Because of their durability and the empty space in the middle, tyres can be used in a range of creative ways. Many people use them as convenient garden planters – simply fill with dirt and plant away! Stack two or more for plants with deeper roots. You can add some flair to your planters by painting the outside of the tyres. Pop a comfy cushion inside a tyre and you have a nifty pet bed, or if you have kids make a nifty sandpit.

Got a creative streak? You can find plenty of online inspiration for upcycling tyres into outdoor furniture, such as stools and tables. Or – easiest of all – use a rope or chain to hang it from a tree and you’ve got yourself a classic tyre swing.

Where to take old tyres

When you buy new tyres at mycar, we send your old ones off to be recycled for free as part of our commitment to reducing the impact of tyre waste. All of our tyres are recycled by Tyrecycle, Australia’s largest tyre collector, recycler and disposer. Before buying new tyres, ask your mechanic how they manage tyre waste and whether they participate in the Australian government’s Tyre Product Stewardship Scheme. Many recycling centres across Australia offer tyre collection services, although you may have to pay a tyre disposal fee.

What are recycled tyres used for?

Last year mycar recycled 994,274 equivalent passenger tyres which is equal to 8,452 tonnes of rubber. With advances in technology, there’s an increasingly wide array of products that can be made from old tyres. Typically, they are ground up into a fine rubber “crumb”, with the steel extracted during the process. The crumb material can be used as Tyre Derived Fuel (TDF) which is used as a replacement for fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil. Rubber crumb can also be used in manufacturing roads, or laid down as a soft, spongy surface for sports tracks and playgrounds.

Cattle farmers have found tyres a useful material to create non-slip mats for cows to walk on in areas such as transport loading and feed stations. Some people even use whole tyres to build houses, known as “Earthships”, by stacking the tyres,packing them full of special soil mixtures, then rendering the resulting walls. With so many options, recycling really is your best car tyre disposal option.

Why you shouldn't just dump your old tyres.

A tyre that sits in landfill is a tyre that never gets a second chance at life. With free tyre recycling available at all mycar stores when you purchase new ones, it couldn’t be easier to do the right thing and recycle.

Find out more about mycar’s commitment to Tyre Product Stewardship.