If you’ve ever wondered what happens to your old car tyres, you’ve come to the right place. Tyre recycling is a high priority for Halfords with our 645 garages and 820 mobile vans nationwide, contributing to the sale and replacement of 3+million tyres a year.
As a result, environmental performance is a key decision-factor in our waste management partner choices, especially for tyres, which generate 60% of our group’s waste.
How does tyre recycling work?
Car tyre waste is collected and transported from our sites to our waste provider’s regional hubs, where it is shredded for effective onwards distribution. Metal wiring is removed (18% of weight) to be re-sold and the rubber chippings are equally split between downcycling (sports pitches, carpet underlay,) and recovery markets (cement kilns).
For commercial truck market (only), we offer tyre lifespan extending services, including re-grooving or preparation for re-tread. These are ways to safely extend the lifespan of tyres – reducing the consumption of virgin material. Commercial tyres can be retread up to 3 times!
75% of our tyre waste is processed in the UK, the remaining controlled export of waste is made via Trans-frontier shipments to audited material off-takers within OECD countries. The recipient processing facilities are evidenced to operate at equivalent standards to the UK.
How are tyres disposed of?
We environmentally dispose of any used tyres we can’t recycle, which are burnt in cement kilns for energy. In 2023, we began charging a separate environmental disposal fee for tyres, which was in line with the rest of the market. Previously we had displayed this price within the cost of tyre.
Are there further plans for tyre recycling?
We are tracking exciting technological developments within the tyre market – namely pyrolysis – where multiple parties are significantly investing in UK infrastructure. Once operational, this process will convert waste tyres into 4 re-usable materials (Metal, gas, oil and recovered carbon black (RCB) – creating a greater recapture of materials available for second life.