Waste tires can become mosquito and insect breeding grounds and pose a fire hazard when improperly stored and disposed.  Tires may be stored at businesses engaged in tire replacement, DMV licensed salvage yards, permitted tire processors and solid waste management facilities.

You can also contact your local Public Works office to find out if your county or city solid waste collection center accepts waste tires for processing and disposal.

Tire Storage Limits

It is illegal to place more than 100 waste tires on public or private property, with the following exceptions.

Facilities engaged in auto repair to include changing tires may store up to 100 waste tires generated onsite without a permit. Tires must be stored in a way that does not cause a hazard or nuisance.

DMV licensed salvage yards may store up to 300 waste tires, or up to 1,500 waste tires if the tires are stored in containers.

Convenience centers may store up to 1,500 waste tires.  All tires must be in a container.

Persons using waste tires for bona fide uses related to the growing, harvesting or processing of agricultural or forest products may hold up to 500 tires on their property.

Solid waste management facilities that store tires are subject to waste tire storage requirements and tire storage limits in their solid waste permit.

Report Dumping

If your property is the subject of illegal dumping, take these steps:

1. Call your local police or sheriff. Request that an officer inspect the site, give them the information you know about the dumping (likely time, any evidence, etc.), and ask for a written report.  Once the report is in hand, contact your locality's solid waste department to inquire about options on the removal and proper disposal of the waste tires.
2. Log a Pollution Complaint

Tire Haulers

DEQ provides a voluntary program to register waste tire haulers in the Commonwealth. Haulers can receive a hauler registration number from the DEQ provided they:

1. Satisfactorily pass a DEQ records check;
2. Have a local business license;
3. Have a viable destination for the waste tires; and
4. Have a valid tax ID/FIN number.

Registered waste tire haulers are asked to develop and to utilize a tracking form similar to DEQ's previously distributed Waste Tire Certification forms to better track the flow of waste tires from Virginia generators. This tracking form (sometimes called a manifest form) provides documentation to the generator that the tires were picked up by a reputable hauler registered with DEQ, and also provides the processor with documentation on the generation point for the waste tires (Virginia or non-Virginia site).

Waste tire haulers may not store tires on any public or private property (including their own), and must deliver the collected tires directly to a processor or licensed disposal point.

Registered Waste Tire Haulers

 Note: DEQ does not endorse any of these businesses nor can it ensure their handling of waste tires is in compliance with all applicable environmental laws, regulations and permits. It is the waste tire generator/user's responsibility to ensure their waste tires are handled properly.

Tire Processors and End Users

Whole waste tires and tires that have been chipped, shredded, or ground can also be beneficially used for civil engineering applications, for the production of rubberized commercial products, used for landfill purposes such as alternate cover or drainage features, or burned for energy recovery or pyrolysis.

List of Permitted Tire Processors

Businesses interested in processing tires for such end uses may require a permit.

Waste tire end users may be eligible for End User Reimbursement (see Waste Tire End User Reimbursement Program section below for more information).

Tire Pile Cleanup

In 1993, DEQ performed a comprehensive state-wide survey and found 1,331 tire piles containing over 25 million waste tires. DEQ has facilitated the removal and proper disposal or beneficial use of approximately 22.9 million waste tires from those piles. Today only 80 certified tire piles remain, holding less than one million tires. 

At this time the DEQ’s Waste Tire Program does not contract cleanup activities.  Companies that use Virginia tire materials recovered from existing certified tire piles within the Commonwealth are eligible to receive $100 per ton from the DEQ’s End User Reimbursement program.