By Nicole LaMarco Updated February 04, 2019
There are around 300 million vehicles on the road in the U.S. This means a tremendous amount of tires are replaced every year, and everyone from mechanic shops to dealerships to people at their homes need to get rid of them. That’s why there are so many ways to make money recycling used tires. Here are a few ideas and the steps to turn wheels into cash.
Most businesses don’t want to wait until they have enough tires to warrant a trip to the recycling center or retreading business. That’s where you come in. Let local garages, tow truck companies, dealerships, car detailers, and anywhere else that deals with a lot of vehicles and maintenance know that you can pick up their tires for a price.
The average is around $3 per tire, but that may vary for your area. This means you need to own a pickup truck, and you need to be available often, but it can be a tidy and immediate influx of cash.
Retreading tires is a business in which old tires are revamped to be functional again. If you have a storage facility big enough, you can store the used tires you pick up until you have enough for that type of business to warrant a pickup. It varies, but most services won’t pick up until you have 100 or so tires ready to go. This means you get paid twice for the same tires – once by the people you picked them up from and once by the retreading company.
Do a web search for “tire retreading” in your area to find companies that do this kind of work and find out how much they pay per tire and if there are any restrictions on the kind of tires they accept or the amount per visit. By doing your homework, you can see which company pays the best and make your decision from there. Don’t forget to factor in your costs of transporting the tires. If a place close to you pays less per tire, it may be worth it to save on gas and wear-and-tear on your truck.
Some tires cannot be repurposed, but that doesn’t mean they cannot be useful. There is always the trusty old tire swing that you can make by drilling a few holes and using a bit of rope, but there are loads of other uses, as well. You can make everything from chairs to garden ponds to planters to hose storage from old tires. The sturdy rubber material makes them hearty and ideal for the outdoors.
Making money from recycling used tires takes some hustle and know-how, but if you have a pickup truck and the time to make connections, it can be a profitable business. Many places are looking for someone just like you to help them out and keep things rolling along.
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Writer Bio
Nicky is a business writer with nearly two decades of hands-on and publishing experience. She's been published in several business publications, including The Employment Times, Web Hosting Sun and WOW! Women on Writing. She also studied business in college.
Not only is the idea of recycling used tires brilliant for the fact that it is extremely environmental friendly, but it can also help you earn extra cash.
We create a massive number of used tires each year. Just in the state of Illinois, “citizens produce more than 14 million used tires annually. That’s more than one used tire per person every year!” That’s according to the IEPA (Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.)
Thankfully, we have gotten very good at recycling old tires, so most of these old tires are being recycled in some shape or form.
And the way you can do this is by partnering with local auto shops and taking their tires to recycling facilities where you will be paid for each tire.
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Couldn’t auto shops just do this on their own?
Well, when it comes to disposing of old tires through recycling facilities, an average auto shop has only two possibilities:
They can transport the tires themselvesIf the auto shop didn’t charge you the fee, it would be at a loss, as the fee is used to cover the expenses of transporting the tires to the closest recycling facility. It covers time, gas, and the possible fee charged by the facility. The fact that the auto shop is here left with neither loss nor gain is one of the reasons they don’t like to do this themselves.
Most of the recycling facilities are more than happy to drop by your auto shop and pick up the tires for you. But scheduling a pickup usually involves a special requirement: A minimum of 100 tires. Which would mean that the auto shop should have a storage place.
That would be a really simple solution if it weren’t for the scrap tire storage laws and regulations many states have. That’s why most auto shops try to dispose of the tires as soon as they can.
This is where you can come in handy.
Your advantage is the lack of free space in auto shops.
Now, to make money, you have two options, each with different requirements.
If you already have a pickup truck you’re halfway there.
Your job will be to simply pick up the used tires from local auto shops (which you will charge a per-tire fee for) and take them down to the local recycling facilities.
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Start by letting local mechanics know that you’re in the business, hand out business cards and become known for your good and quick service.
Now, the above options require you to have a truck or some form of transportation that lets you haul more than a few tires.
Just because you don’t have a vehicle large enough doesn’t mean that you should be out of business.
Do you have an empty garage or any kind of empty space that could be good for storage?
Let me explain…
You see, most tire retreading centers will come and pick up your used tires if you have at least a 100 tires.
This is why most auto shops can’t simply call them up and schedule a pickup -they lack the space necessary to store 100 tires.
This is where your big empty garage comes in handy.
Use your car to pick up as many tires as you can and store them until you reach the required minimum of 100. Then call the nearest recycling facility to schedule the pickup.
Auto shops usually pay $3 for every tire you take away, and recycling facilities are known for charging a flat fee of $1 per tire.
So you are left with $2 per tire. Take into account your gas expenses and wear and tear on your truck, and you are looking at about $1.70 or so (give or take a little) per truck.
This can be a nice little side business for you.
Or if you really want to take it to the next level, you could turn your small tire recycling business into a full time six-figure making business, like this guy who makes $100 a day recycling scrap tires. He picks up old tires from gas stations and car dealers and sells them to the local retreading and recycling centers.
So you can make this a steady income if there are enough auto shops in your surrounding.
If you want to take this seriously, you want to make sure you do everything the right way, starting with registering your business.
If you want to be recognized as a professional and further develop your business, I strongly recommend that you register your business. Go and make it official!
Registering can cost you around $50 in most states. Visit your city hall to find out more about the procedure.
This might seem like a big and unnecessary step at this point, but it will actually help your reputation. Making your business official will show that you can actually be considered reliable and responsible in the eyes of your customers.
The best way to find tire recycling centers near you that pay cash for tires is via RecycleNation.com (former 1800Recycling.com).
This is like a directory of all recycling facilities in the US, letting you locate nearest facilities by simply entering your zip code.
EPA.gov – which will give you all the relevant technical details you need to start a recycling business in the US.
Ok, not everybody wants to deal with storing and hauling 100s of tires. But you still want to make some money from the few old tries laying around your garage.
Well, the good news is that you have, yet, another option–making things out of used tires and selling them.
Here is an example.
Ask the seller at the local store for a recommendation, as this is a very important part of your project. If you are the one who does the hanging, measure the length you’ll need and add an extra two feet (you’ll be needing them for knots).You can see a much better step by step instruction with pictures on Instructables.com
And tire swing is not the only thing you can make. There are many other things you can make. Juts take a look at Pinterest for more tire craft ideas.
Or better yet, since you want to make things to sell, check out Etsy to see what kind of items other sellers are making out of their old and unwanted tires, and which ones sell more, so you can focus your time and efforts on making things that actually sell.
Where to sell your DIY tire creations
You can sell your art works on sites like Etsy and even eBay.
Amazon has also just launched their Handmade at Amazon service where only handmade stuff are sold.
However, if you think that you are better at leaving an impression in person, try out your luck at a local flea market or craft fair.
Whether you recycling old tires by taking them down to the local facilities or making artwork out of them, you are contributing to the health of our planet, as well as your wallet.
If you know of any other way of making money recycling old and used tires for cash, let us know with a comment below.
Article author
Khvatkov Dmitry
Consultant in the production of rubber coatings
The problem of recycling old car tires is long overdue. The fact is that rubber made from synthetic rubber is flammable and practically not biodegradable. Mountains of old tires have been stored at landfills for decades, polluting the soil and groundwater with decay products.
The slightest ignition is enough for the rubber to flare up and cover the sky with thick black smoke, poisoning the atmosphere with the strongest carcinogens and other substances that kill all living things.
More than a million tons of such waste is generated in Russia every year, so the issue of civilized recycling of old wheels has become of great environmental and economic importance. In this article, we will look at the main methods for recycling worn tires, and also talk about such a promising direction as recycling tires into crumb rubber.
Automobile tires consist of several components:
Used tires can be recycled using the pyrolysis method, i.e. decomposition into components under the action of high temperatures, and mechanically.
The second option is the most interesting from an economic point of view, since it is waste-free. The rubber component, from which crumb is made for the production of modern safety floor coverings, and the metal cord, which is melted down as scrap metal, are also gaining new life.
The main raw material for the production of tires is synthetic rubber, a material obtained from oil. Recycling rubber contributes to the conservation of this non-renewable natural resource. Recycling of rubber waste also stimulates the development of resource-saving technologies, reduces landfill areas, and improves the environmental situation.
Tire recycling products can be used to produce new demanded products:
Recycling of old car tires into crumbs by crushing is the most rational way of recycling, since it allows you to separate the product into rubber, metal and textiles (fiberglass).
Each component is a valuable recyclable material and is subject to further processing.
The main advantage of this method is that it allows you to save the basic physical and chemical properties of rubber.
Tire crushing process consists of several steps:
Burning a ton of tires in thermal power plants generates the same amount of heat energy as burning a ton of coal. But this processing technology is energetically inefficient, since the manufacture of one tire consumes the energy contained in 40 liters of oil, and when burned, energy is released that is equivalent to 10 liters of natural fuel.
Burning is carried out at a temperature not lower than 1900 degrees. At lower temperatures, dangerous dioxins are formed, which makes the process harmful to the environment.
There are other, less common technologies for grinding old tires:
Pyrolysis or thermal decomposition is another option for recycling old tires. The essence of the method lies in the high-temperature processing of the rubber component with limited air supply or in conditions of complete absence of oxygen.
The purpose of this method is to extract fuel for stoves from artificial rubber. In addition to gaseous products, liquid and resinous hydrocarbon fractions are obtained in the process of thermal decomposition of rubber.
Disposal is carried out in several stages in special pyrolysis plants. The main disadvantage of pyrolysis technology is its non-environmental friendliness. In the process of disposal, toxic substances are released, the neutralization of which requires additional costs. In a number of European countries, the use of this method is prohibited at the legislative level due to harmful emissions into the atmosphere.
This is not only the most environmentally friendly way to dispose of recycled rubber, but also a profitable business that allows you to get good money. At the output of the production line, 3 types of demanded raw materials are obtained:
The metal is sent for remelting, and the crushed rubber particles are used for the production of rubber tiles, paving stones, curbs, rolled and seamless sports safety coatings.
The following equipment is used for tire crumbling:
Production lines are used in large enterprises for the production of crumb rubber and products from it. Such equipment is equipped with magnetic and air separators to remove metal and textile particles.
Due to the actively growing number of cars in our country, the number of used tires increases every year, which in most cases are simply thrown into a landfill. The decomposition period of such materials is about 150 years, plus they are a fire hazardous material, which makes their release sites especially dangerous. In this article, we are going to look at an eco-friendly type of car tire recycling business.
Waste of this type of material is of great value because it contains polymers that are used in various industries. So, for example, 1 ton of discarded tires contains about 650 kg of rubber, which, as you know, is used everywhere.
Recycled tires can be made into the following materials:
Article contents
In order for your tire recycling business to work successfully, you first need to establish a supply of raw materials. In fact, we have a problem with this issue in our country, since the system for collecting waste raw materials and its logistics has not been established at all, but we are moving towards this, which means that the prospects are quite looming.
If you don't have such factories in your region, then you can be a pioneer and conclude agreements with all companies that have fleets of vehicles for the disposal of worn out products. Most likely, such an initiative will be 100% supported by the local authorities.
And they will assist you. Particular attention should be paid to agricultural enterprises, as a huge amount of used tires usually accumulate.
You can also organize a collection point for these materials from ordinary citizens who wish to throw away an unnecessary thing.
Start earning on seasonal tire storage. Premises, racks and customer search.
http://biznes-club.com/biznes-idei/zarabotok-na-sezonnom-hranenii-shin.html
To conduct legal activities, you need to take care of all the necessary documentation and obtain permits to work.
Here is the main thing you will need:
These are just the basic documents.
In order to avoid problems with documents and fines in the future, we recommend that you contact an experienced lawyer for advice.
In order to open such a business, you need to consider building options in an industrial area somewhere outside the city. Immediately pay attention to the convenience of access to the mini-factory, for the delivery of raw materials and the shipment of finished goods.
The main requirements for the premises for the implementation of business ideas for the recycling of automobile tires are:
Since you will be installing expensive equipment, you need to think about installing a burglar alarm.
To get the maximum profit from this activity, you need to strictly follow the technology specified for the purchased equipment. The business process of recycling tires into crumbs includes several main stages:
1.) Extraction of tire bead rings on a special stand.
2.) Removing the cord.
3.) Separation of the tire into large pieces of about 20 cm.
5.) The metal cord particles are removed by magnetic separation.
6.) Grinding of the material to a particle size of 1mm.
The processing line itself is quite large. So we already wrote that the requirements for the premises are 400 sq.m. area with a ceiling height of about 6 m. The electrical network must withstand a power of 300 kW. The operating temperature in the room should be around 5 degrees Celsius.
When drawing up a business plan for a tire crumb plant, the main costs you will go to equipment. You have two options for shaping the production process.
The first is the purchase of a finished line, and the second is the purchase of units separately. Which one to choose is up to you, you need to look at the prices and look at the overall financial benefit from one approach or the other.
Ready-made tire recycling lines:
What are the components of the line itself:
These are the main components of the equipment. Depending on the configuration of the line, they may be slightly different. Study all the technical characteristics of the equipment only on the official websites of manufacturers.
Find out how to open your own tire and wheel store. Choice of location, assortment, suppliers and advertising. Calculations for this business.
When drawing up a business plan, an important part is occupied by calculations. To consider an approximate investment in a tire recycling business, for example, let's take a production line with a capacity of 2 tons per day.
TOTAL expenses - $2495 per month.
If you will be responsible for the delivery of raw materials and the shipment of finished goods, then you need to think about buying a truck with a loader.
You can earn good money by processing tires into crumbs. Let's estimate the average sales from the small line shown above.
Sale of finished products:
TOTAL (according to the results of the month): for a unit with a capacity of 40 t/month.
Total: $6000 (income) - $2495 (expenses) = $3500 (profit) per month.
Considering the initial investment in equipment, about $35,000 and the purchase of a used car for $20,000. Then the payback of the business will be from 15 to 25 months.
