Recycling
The Benefits of Scrap Tire Disposal
Cutting up tires that need to be disposed of is a simple and effective solution. By using a tire cutting machine that can neatly and efficiently take care of whole tires and getting them ready for the landfill, companies can save time and money.
Disposing of whole tires versus cutting up tires for disposal. What is the difference? While, it is illegal in the United States to bury whole tires in a landfill, once tires are cut up they are considered garbage and can be disposed of with no problem. Considering this, what tools are available to help your company cut up and dispose of old tires?
Why Cut Up tires?
According to U.S. law, it is acceptable to cut up whole tires and bury them in the landfills. In turn, every individual state makes their own rules and regulations with the EPA, DNR, etc. regarding the size of the pieces. Now, what does this do for recycling? It reduces the tire size volume by 70 to 75 percent resulting in the reduction of landfill space. If you bury 1,400 to 1,500 whole tires in a pile 20 feet down at a landfill and cap it at 20 years, those tires will work their way back to the top between the air pockets and the methane gas. As a result, the tires would have to be dug up and removed. Once you cut up whole tires, not only can you put a lot into a small space, but it they do not rise to the surface and it reduces the health and hazardous risks associated with whole tires. Other benefits include:
- Tires that are cut do not hold water like whole tires do, helping reduce mosquito breeding grounds
- Cut tires can be used for cover for landfills, erosion control and filtration
- Most landfills consider cut tires to be regular garbage, helping to eliminate expensive tire disposal fees
So What is the Solution?
Considering the laws and regulations that are associated with whole and cut up tires, what is the solution to this situation? A machine that can help cut up tires so your company can dispose of them efficiently. Today, there is equipment available that cuts up tires into acceptable pieces in order for companies to haul them to the landfills without any problems at less cost. A small tire cutter can be purchased in gas or electric and will usually cut up about 90 tires per hour. These machines are normally found in tire stores. From there, larger machines will cut up not only car tires, but truck tires at 128 tires per hour and semi-truck tires at about 50 to 55 per hour. Taking into account the disposal costs of sending out tires to be cut up at another facility, owning a tire cutting machine allows the tires stay on your premises and anyone can cut up as many tires as when needed without having to call another company to come and do it for you.
Think about this: right now, a facility is having another company pick up their tires, which means they are paying on average $1 to $1.50 per passenger tire, while semi-tires are on average $6 to $10 dollars per tire. At the end of the day, if a tire shop needs to get rid of used passenger tires, they are going to pay $1 per tire to get rid of them, which adds up to at least $1,000 per month (10 to 15 tires per day; 1,000 tires at the end of the month). A tire cutter/shredder could have saved the shop a significant amount of money.
During the day, when it is not busy, an employee can go over to the machine and cut up tires as needed. It is faster to cut up four tires than it is to take it to a pickup and trailer out back. Now that the shop has cut up the tires and put them in their dumpster, the tires have become trash and the shop is now paying by the ton instead of per tire. The going rate for tire disposal at a landfill is $35 to $42 dollars per ton, which equals about 23 to 28 cents per tire for tire disposal instead of a dollar per tire. This is almost a 70 percent savings—instead of paying 1,000 dollars to get rid of the tires, this process will only cost about 300 dollars. A tire cutter can save about $450 to $500 dollars a month.
An additional benefit to owning a tire cutter is at some point a company can start picking up and cutting other company’s tires, in turn allowing them to charge companies that need the service. If the shop gets five or six different tire shops to pay them to cut up their tires, they go around and pick up the tires or they go to the place and cut them up there, the investment pays off. Not only can they buy the machine and save themselves 60 to 70 percent of their tire disposal bill, but they can take care of their own tire disposal problems rather than relying on “tire jockeys” and make a little money to help pay their landfill disposal fees. Other concerns—whether or not the company that comes out to cut up your tires are legit, do they have all their current licenses, are they disposing of them properly, etc.—are given peace of mind since the company that owns the tire cutting machine is taking care of their own tires.
Whole Tires vs. Cut Up Tires
Next time you think about how to dispose of your scrap tires, consider this: whole tires are potential health risks—used tire stockpiles can be havens for pests to reside in and can present a potential fire hazard, a whole tire holds water easily, giving a breeding ground for mosquitoes, and they present the risk of contaminating surface water run off. Not to mention putting whole tires in a landfill is illegal and to pay another company to come to your facility and cut up the tires for you can become costly.
Cutting up tires that need to be disposed of is a simple and effective solution. By using a tire cutting machine that can neatly and efficiently take care of whole tires and getting them ready for the landfill, companies can save time and money as well as gain revenue by offering such services to other companies in need.
DESCO is a family-owned business based in Blakesburg, IA, with more than 25 years experience in scrap rubber and steel rim recycling. Building quality machines with the customer in mind, there are more than 1,000 DESCO tire cutters and de-rimmers working throughout the world. For more information on their equipment, call (800) 344-0814 or visit www.desco-usa.com.
Sidebar
Real Deal Tires Still Cuts Production Costs on Original DESCO Machine
Real Deal Tires located in Mineral Wells, TX just outside of Dallas-Fort Worth, is a 19-year old company in the used tire and recycling business. Picking up scrap tires and bringing them back to their central facility, they are still using one of the original DESCO (Blakesburg, IA) machines to cut up and dispose of the tires. Chuck England, owner of Real Deal Tires, is still very happy with his machine and other than some routine maintenance states that it has given him no problems over the years. “The original engine lasted 15 years. I have bought a comparable engine and replaced parts such as hydraulic hoses, changed cylinders, and had to buy a blade for it, but in general it takes cares of itself and is easy to operate.”
DESCO provides tire cutters and de-rimmers worldwide, manufacturing all of the equipment in the U.S. Two main types of machines are made by DESCO: one is a tire cutter, while the other is a de-rimmer, which will take the tire off the rim for salvage yards. DESCO equipment is most purchased by landfills, waste haulers, roll-off container operators, tire shops, salvage yards and people who just want to get into the business of cutting other company’s tires.
England says that when they decided to purchase the original machine, the one they had been using was not able to cut truck tires, so they turned to DESCO to provide them with an effective machine and the investment has paid off. “It has saved us 50 percent in production costs. Before the machine we have now, we used equipment that was a lot smaller and only able to cut passenger car tires,” he states.
Although the machine that Real Deal Tires is far from needing to be replaced completely, England does stress that if he ever had to replace the machine, he would definitely purchase one from DESCO again. “I wouldn’t even bat an eye,” he says. “I would replace the model that I have now with an upgrade to one of their machines that does de-rimming and can lift the truck tires for you.”
England goes on to say, “The people at DESCO have been nothing but good to me. I bent a couple of bars on my machine one time—just from normal abuse—and I called them and they shipped the parts right out. You really don’t find folks like that anymore.”