Waste Tire Reycling Information - Los Angeles County Department of Public Works

Facts: In Los Angeles County, approximately ten million waste tires are generated annually. Waste tires that are illegally dumped or improperly stored can pose a serious threat to public health and safety, as well as to the environment. The result can be urban blight and significant costs to residents. Waste tires can serve as a nesting area for pests and a breeding ground for mosquitos which can spread encephalitis and other illnesses. Waste tires can also catch fire and release toxic smoke.

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Objectives: To eliminate these problems and help the environment, waste tires need to be recycled. But in the absence of adequate markets for waste tires, they have been disposed in landfills or dumped in your neighborhood. The County is continually looking for new and innovative methods to productively use waste tires, eliminate their illegal dumping, conserve natural resources, and preserve landfill capacity. Towards these efforts, the County has and continues to implement a variety of programs to address these issues.

Programs: The County has active tire programs which provide outreach and education on tire issues, conducts waste tire collection events, and constructs demonstration projects featuring practical uses for recycled tires. The waste tire collection events are rotated to different County areas for residents to drop off tires for free. If you are unable to participate, you could check our list of facilities accepting tires for disposal or recycling. But we recommend you take advantage of the free events. Collected tires are recycled and could be used for the construction of amenities that benefit the community as shown in completed recycled rubber demonstration projects.

Cooperative Efforts: The County partnered with the California Integrated Waste Management Board to form the Rubberized Asphalt Concrete Technology Center to promote the use of scrap tires in roadway rehabilitation projects. Scrap tires could be used to construct rubberized asphalt concrete and slurry for use on road maintenance and resurfacing projects. It has many advantages and benefits over regular asphalt concrete. The County uses it in many of its street rehabilitation projects and chances are you have driven on rubberized asphalt concrete. In addition to research, the Rubberized Asphalt Concrete Technology Center conducts seminars to instruct other agencies about their use.