What to do with old...
 

  You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more

What to do with old tyres ?

33 Posts
24 Users
6 Reactions
1,167 Views
Posts: 437
Full Member
Topic starter
 

Like many people I have *loads* of old tyres, some parts worn some were OEM. I have kept them all as they *may* use useful..... One day. They never will be 

 

Any ideas as to what I can do with them rather than throw them in the rubbish ? 


 
Posted : 12/07/2025 2:38 pm
Posts: 2923
Full Member
 

You can recycle at some bike shops for a quid a tyre


 
Posted : 12/07/2025 2:43 pm
Posts: 437
Full Member
Topic starter
 

I presume that they give me the pound rather than I give them the money? Otherwise I'll be better off taking them up the tip Nd leaving them in the second hand section


 
Posted : 12/07/2025 2:52 pm
Posts: 11961
Full Member
 

Posted by: quentyn

I presume that they give me the pound rather than I give them the money?


 
Posted : 12/07/2025 3:06 pm
 merk
Posts: 137
Full Member
 

Household waste recycling centres in Derbyshire accept them. I assume they actually get recycled rather than buried or burned.


 
Posted : 12/07/2025 3:16 pm
Posts: 3438
Full Member
 

Bike recycle charity's might take them.

There are a couple in Nottingham, if you are in or near a city there might be one near by.


 
Posted : 12/07/2025 3:28 pm
Posts: 11961
Full Member
 

Posted by: merk

I assume they actually get recycled rather than buried or burned.

Burning or burying are both forms of recycling, the difference is the timeframe.


 
Posted : 12/07/2025 3:35 pm
Posts: 1019
Free Member
 

I took several tyres that I wouldn't be using again to a local charity last year, along with a few old wheels and saddles.

https://www.recyke.bike/

North East England but I'm guessing there will be others around the UK 


 
Posted : 12/07/2025 3:49 pm
Posts: 2701
Free Member
 

Yes you can get them re-cycled, as bikerevive says there are some shops that participate in a scheme, I think started by Schwalbe. 
Why on earth would you expect paying? Do you get payment when you take batteries, old Christmas decorations or scrap to the recycling centre?


 
Posted : 12/07/2025 3:51 pm
Posts: 437
Full Member
Topic starter
 

Posted by: wheelsonfire1

Yes you can get them re-cycled, as bikerevive says there are some shops that participate in a scheme, I think started by Schwalbe. 
Why on earth would you expect paying? Do you get payment when you take batteries, old Christmas decorations or scrap to the recycling centre?

 

Indeed not, but I also wouldn't expect to pay to recycle something that can be easily disposed of via other mechanisms. Hence, when the poster suggested a pound, I was wondering if they gave that to me as I can't imagine many people paying to transport something to a bike shop when they can just chuck it in their household rubbish. 

I'll have a look around for some of the bike charities as I think I have a full 11-speed group set in LX, some trp brakes practically unused and several saddles....

 


 
Posted : 12/07/2025 3:55 pm
Posts: 3590
Free Member
 

Ride them until you get every last penny out of them? Just me then?


 
Posted : 12/07/2025 4:37 pm
Posts: 1070
Full Member
 

See if there's a local charity that might benefit from them? I did that recently with a load of tyres bought in sales etc that I'd stashed in the loft for 'that rainy day' and I'm glad someone will get some good use out of them.


 
Posted : 12/07/2025 6:53 pm
zerocool reacted
Posts: 645
Free Member
 

Get some old cricket stumps or poles you can pile them on, and make a tower of Hanoi to entertain people 


 
Posted : 12/07/2025 7:01 pm
Posts: 7812
Full Member
 

If they're decent 26*2.1 to 2.3 and trail oriented I'd take a few to keep my old on one ticking over.  


 
Posted : 12/07/2025 9:39 pm
Posts: 3297
Free Member
 

Donate to a bike charity or ask if a shop wants them. Or Freebikes4kids, etc


 
Posted : 13/07/2025 4:32 am
Posts: 2923
Full Member
 

YOU pay the shop to have them Recycled 


 
Posted : 13/07/2025 6:07 am
Posts: 2923
Full Member
 

Posted by: quentyn

I presume that they give me the pound rather than I give them the money? Otherwise I'll be better off taking them up the tip Nd leaving them in the second hand section

If your tip is like here in Sheffield, drive to tip - 15 mins, queue to get in, 15- 20 mins, drive back 15 mins

45-55 mins runs journey Inc tipping time. I value my free time at a lot more than that. If I take the old tyres to a shop that is in the schwalbe scheme then that will be 20 mins and a fiver.

 


 
Posted : 13/07/2025 6:10 am
 merk
Posts: 137
Full Member
 

Tyres going to landfill is the same as recycling?


 
Posted : 13/07/2025 12:14 pm
Posts: 22922
Full Member
 

When you buy new car tyres you typically pay around £20 for "fitting, valves and disposal" - its rarely itemised but within that but you pay around £3 per tyre to get your old ones recycled.

In the case of the bike tyre recycling - its the recycling scheme that sets that £1 fee not the shop - but they of course do that recognising that theres no reason why a shop should participate in the scheme for nothing seeing as charging people for goods and services are what shops do.

I'll have a look around for some of the bike charities as I think I have a full 11-speed group set in LX, some trp brakes practically unused and several saddles....

Maybe slip them a tenner as well as charities also don't run on thin air.


 
Posted : 13/07/2025 1:05 pm
Posts: 41
Full Member
 

Decathlon recycle tyres and inner tubes.


 
Posted : 13/07/2025 4:56 pm
Posts: 65918
Free Member
 

Have you considered just keeping them in a box until you die, along with your 400 other tyres, like a normal person?


 
Posted : 15/07/2025 11:03 pm
toby and hooli reacted
Posts: 1358
Full Member
 

Give them to your local singlespeeder who will have an insatiable demand for rear tyres to shred the knobs off.


 
Posted : 16/07/2025 4:25 am
Posts: 7076
Full Member
 

There's a place in Cambridge that will take old tyres for £1 each. I've been a few times. Not sure why you would expect someone to take them for free.


 
Posted : 16/07/2025 7:45 am
Posts: 8771
Full Member
 

Not sure why you would expect someone to take them for free.

Because usually when you exchange things, you take something in return for payment for it. So when someone says a £1 per tyre, and you've never been to a shop to recycle your old bicycle tyres it's quite easy to think that £1 might be a small encouragement for people to do the right thing.

Don't they create any value out of the recycled items? Are the recycled tyres completely useless in their new form? Are they not recycled at all?

Just questions.


 
Posted : 16/07/2025 8:22 am
Posts: 618
Free Member
 

Spray them all white, attach together and make a michelin man fancy dress costume for such occasions as are fitting. 

https://www.businessinsider.com/early-michelin-man-photos-2015-1

Or pass on to bike charity, recycled etc

 


 
Posted : 16/07/2025 11:40 am
Posts: 7076
Full Member
 

I also have to pay Anglian Water to take away my sewage which seems completely unreasonable. They should be paying me!


 
Posted : 16/07/2025 11:44 am
james-rennie reacted
Posts: 525
Free Member
 

Grate them and then drop a handful of the resulting rubber crumbs on your local 3G sports pitch like Andy Dufresne.


 
Posted : 16/07/2025 11:49 am
Posts: 10333
Full Member
 

Decent condition I give to a bike charity, others I just take to the tip and put in the tyre recycling section.

Unless you're gonna make something out of them there's not much else you can do really. What happens to them after the tip is as much a mystery as every other bit of recycling that happens in this country....


 
Posted : 16/07/2025 12:23 pm
Posts: 780
Full Member
 

Posted by: Northwind

Have you considered just keeping them in a box until you die, along with your 400 other tyres, like a normal person?

This 😉 

Posted by: ads678

What happens to them after the tip is as much a mystery as every other bit of recycling that happens in this country...

I could be wrong but I think we ship it to countries with no less strict environmental rules and regulations.

 


 
Posted : 16/07/2025 1:32 pm
Posts: 8771
Full Member
 

I also have to pay Anglian Water to take away my sewage which seems completely unreasonable. They should be paying me!

That's how I feel about advertising!

 


 
Posted : 16/07/2025 2:06 pm
 jfab
Posts: 437
Free Member
 

Posted by: citizenlee

 

I could be wrong but I think we ship it to countries with no less strict environmental rules and regulations.

 

Which from next year I think will be turned around as Scotland didn't build enough incinerators to support their "No Landfill" policy so they'll be sending their landfill to England to burn instead. 

 


 
Posted : 16/07/2025 2:26 pm
Posts: 780
Full Member
 

Posted by: jfab

Which from next year I think will be turned around as Scotland didn't build enough incinerators to support their "No Landfill" policy so they'll be sending their landfill to England to burn instead

Quite right 😀

https://wildcamping.co.uk/attachments/img_7094-jpg.134874/


 
Posted : 16/07/2025 2:37 pm
Posts: 300
Full Member
 

I put a load on Olio last year, they all went to new homes Olio - Your Local Sharing App


 
Posted : 16/07/2025 3:52 pm

6 DAYS LEFT
We are currently at 95% of our target!