Old tyres cannot go to landfill, and have not been able to for over twenty years. Whole tyres were banned in 2003 and shredded tyres in 2006, so every tyre that comes off a scrapped car enters a recovery route: crumb rubber, retreading, civil engineering or fuel.
Why the ban exists
Tyres do not biodegrade, they destabilise landfill cells, and stockpiles of them trap water, breed insects and burn almost unquenchably when they catch. In one well-publicised Welsh case, two company directors were jailed after tyres stored without a permit near Swansea caught fire: the blaze lasted twenty-three days and dealing with it cost around £2.6 million.
The Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations 2002 removed the landfill route entirely, which forced a recycling industry into existence, and the UK now recovers effectively all of its end-of-life tyres through one route or another, overseen by the Environment Agency and its counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Where the tyres from a scrapped car go
Tyres come off during depollution, before the car ever reaches the shredder, and enter their own waste stream handled by registered carriers. From there, four main routes.
| Route | What happens |
|---|
| Crumb rubber | Tyres are shredded and granulated, the steel wire recovered as scrap, and the rubber crumb used in sports pitches, playground surfacing, speed bumps and rubberised asphalt |
| Retreading | Sound casings get a new tread and return to the road. Retreads have had to meet the same ECE standards as new tyres since 2004 |
| Civil engineering | Whole or baled tyres in embankments, drainage, and construction fill |
| Energy recovery | Tyre-derived fuel substitutes for coal, mainly in cement kilns, under strict emission limits |
Inside the recycling centre
For the crumb route, the process is more industrial than most people picture. Tyres are fed into a shredder and reduced to strips. Magnets and screens pull the steel wire and textile fibre out of the rubber, and the recovered metal and fibre are pressed into briquettes for cost-effective transport back into industry. The cleaned rubber strips are then ground to a 5mm crumb, or processed into tyre-derived fuel for cement and paper kilns where whole-tyre equipment is not used.
The steel inside the tyreA tyre is not just rubber. The bead and belts carry steel wire, which is recovered during granulation and sold into the same scrap steel stream as the rest of your car. It is part of what makes tyre recycling economic.
Rubberised roads
One of the more visible destinations for crumb rubber is asphalt. Rubber thickens the bitumen binding a road surface together, and trials on busy Scottish roads found rubberised sections quieter than conventional tarmac with grip to match. Every mile surfaced that way absorbs tyres that once had nowhere to go.
Where this fits in scrapping a car
Tyre removal is one of the first steps of the recycling process, alongside fluids, the battery and airbags. Their recovery contributes to the 95% recovery target every scrapped vehicle must meet.
Common questions
Do worn or damaged tyres reduce my scrap price?
No. Scrap value is driven by the vehicle's weight and the metal market, not the state of the tyres. See what scrap cars are currently paying.
Can I keep my tyres if they are nearly new?
Yes, but the car still needs tyres on it to be collected, so swap them for another set first. Old, worn ones are fine; a vehicle we cannot roll onto the truck is harder to collect, and that affects what we can pay.
Can I put tyres in a skip or at the tip?
Not in a skip, and household recycling centres accept only small numbers from private individuals, sometimes for a small charge. Commercial quantities must go through a registered waste carrier.
Is dumping tyres really prosecuted?
Yes. Fly-tipping tyres is a criminal offence under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, with unlimited fines available.
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Get my priceWhole tyres were banned from landfill from 2003 and shredded tyres from 2006 under the Landfill (England and Wales) Regulations 2002. Retreaded tyres have required ECE-standard manufacture since 2004. Last checked 28 August 2026. See also how to scrap a car and car plastic recycling.
