Tires

Of the approximately 266 million scrap tires generated in the US yearly, about 24.5 million were recycled as ground rubber in products, asphalt highways and agricultural/miscellaneous uses. An additional 10 million were beneficially used in civil engineering projects. These uses are presented separately because, although some are recycled into products such as artificial reefs or septic system drain fields, many are used in landfill construction and operation. In addition, 152.5 million were combusted for energy recovery, and 15 million were exported. The remaining 64 million were land-filled or disposed of in either legal or illegal stockpiles. The US-EPA estimates that there are still 1-2 billion tires in stockpiles nationwide.