How Important Is It to Recycle Tires?
Recycling Tires Benefits More Than the Environment
Recycling tires is important for several environmental, health, and economic reasons. The first of course, is that it helps prevent pollution. Tires in landfills can leak toxic chemicals into the soil and groundwater, which end up spreading to other areas beyond the landfill itself.
Recycling tires also reduces waste volume. Tires take up significant space in landfills and are not biodegradable, which means they can take up to 80 years to break down and therefore need a significant amount of long-term storage space in the meantime.
And perhaps most importantly, recycling and repurposing tires helps conserve natural resources. Tires are mostly made from rubber, so when they are recycled, it reduces the reliance on raw materials like rubber, oil, and steel.
What Happens When You Don’t Recycle Tires?
Tires can take several decades to break down naturally in the environment. This is because in order to make them safe and effective on the road, they are made from durable materials, which are a blend of synthetic rubber, natural rubber, steel, and various chemical additives, which are specifically designed to resist wear, weathering, and breakdown. Because they are made from these durable materials, they are resistant to decomposition. The complex structure and additives make tires highly resistant to natural decomposition by bacteria or fungi. So rather than fully decomposing, tires gradually break into smaller pieces (microplastics), which can contaminate soil and waterways and may release toxic chemicals as they degrade, including heavy metals and hydrocarbons.
Another reason to avoid sending tires to landfills is because tire piles cause a fire hazard. They are highly flammable and extremely difficult to extinguish once ignited and again, release harmful toxins into the air if they do catch on fire. These piles also create breeding grounds for pests because water collects in discarded tires, creating ideal conditions for mosquitoes.
Is There Any Economic Value to Recycling Tires?
The tire recycling industry supports employment in collection, processing, and manufacturing, so ultimately, it creates jobs. And recycled materials can cut costs by reusing valuable materials, which can be turned into products like rubberized asphalt, playground surfaces, garden mulch, and construction materials. Proper recycling can be more cost-effective than landfill disposal and reduces municipal waste management expenses. Therefore, recycling tires is crucial for protecting the planet, public health, and the economy as it can transform a potential environmental hazard into a valuable resource.
How Sentury is Contributing to Sustainability
With this in mind, Sentury was recently selected by Discount Tire to participate in their new Total Recycling Initiative. The initiative, which aims to recycle all used tires and avoid sending them to landfills, is being run by Liberty Tire Recycling. Sentury’s involvement in the program means their end-of-life tires will be turned into usable materials such as crumb rubber and mulch. Mulch has various landscaping uses, both decorative and functional, while crumb rubber is used for athletic tracks, playground surfaces, and artificial turf.
Discount Tire launched its partnership with Liberty Tire Recycling in early May, 2025. The program aims to ensure that every tire handled by Discount Tire is reused and repurposed. In the US, approximately 874,000 tons of scrap tires were sent to landfills in 2023. This accounts for about 19% of the total 4.84 million tons of end-of-life tires (ELTs) generated that year.
Sentury Tire USA’s commitment to sustainability is amplified by one of its core values which states: “We respect that our products begin with nature and are committed to using the best, sustainable practices in our business model.” To read more about the initiative, visit discounttire.com/tires/recycling.