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  WasteAdvantage Magazine January 2010 49

Disposing o whole tires versus cutting up

tires or disposal. What is the dierence? While, itis illegal in the United States to bury whole tires in

a landfll, once tires are cut up they are considered

garbage and can be disposed o with no problem.

Considering this, what tools are available to help your

company cut up and dispose o old tires?

Why Cut Up Tires?According to U.S. law, it is acceptable to cut up

whole tires and bury them in the landflls. In turn, everyindividual state makes their own rules and regulations

with the EPA, DNR, etc. regarding the size o the

pieces. Now, what does this do or recycling? It reduces

the tire size volume by 70 to 75 percent resulting in the

reduction o landfll space. I you bury 1,400 to 1,500

whole tires in a pile 20 eet down at a landfll and cap itat 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 surace

and it reduces the health and hazardous risks associated

with whole tires. Other benefts include:

• Tires that are cut do not hold water like whole tires

do, helping reduce mosquito breeding grounds• Cut tires can be used as a cover for landlls,

erosion control and fltration

• Most landlls consider cut tires to be regular garbage,

helping to eliminate expensive tire disposal ees

Recycling

The Benefts o Scrap Tire Disposal

Cutting up tires that need to be disposedof is a simple and effeCtivesolution. By a ma a

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50  WasteAdvantage Magazine January 2010

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 efciently. Today, there is equipment available

that cuts up tires into acceptable pieces in order or companies to haul them to the landflls 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 to55 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 or 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 o the day, i a tire shop needs to get rid o used passenger tires, they are

going to pay $1 per tire to get rid o them, which adds up to at least $1,000 per month (10 to 15

tires per day; 1,000 tires at the end o the month). A tire cutter/shredder could have saved the shop

a signifcant amount o 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 aster to cut up our 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 landll 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 to get rid of the tires, this process will

only cost about $300. A tire cutter can save about $450 to $500 per month.

An additional beneft 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. I the

shop gets fve or six dierent tire shops to pay them to cut up their tires, they can go around and pick upthe tires or go to the companies’ acilities and cut them up there, the investment pays o. Not only can

they buy the machine and save themselves 60 to 70 percent o their tire disposal bill, but they can take

care o their own tire disposal problems rather than relying on “tire jockeys” and make a little money

to help pay their landll 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 o 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 TiresNext time you think about how to dispose o 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 re

hazard, a whole tire holds water easily, giving a breeding ground or mosquitoes, and they present the

risk o contaminating surace water run o. Not to mention putting whole tires in a landfll is illegal

and to pay another company to come to your acility and cut up the tires or you can become costly.

Cutting up tires that need to be disposed o is a simple and eective solution. By using a tire

cutting machine that can neatly and efciently take care o whole tires and getting them ready or

the landfll, companies can save time and money as well as gain revenue by oering such services to

other companies in need. | WA

 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.

Desco 2500 Portable Tire Shear.Photo courtesy of Desco.

Real Deal Tires Still CutsProduction Costs on OriginalDESCO Machine

Real Deal Tires located in Mineral Wells, TX

 just outside o 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 acility, they are still

using one o the original DESCO (Blakesburg,

IA) machines to cut up and dispose o the tires.

Chuck England, owner o 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 or it, but in

general it takes cares o itsel and is easy to

operate.”

DESCO provides tire cutters and de-rimmers

worldwide, manuacturing all o the equipment

in the U.S. Two main types o machines aremade by DESCO: one is a tire cutter, while the

other is a de-rimmer, which will take the tire o

the rim or salvage yards. DESCO equipment

is most purchased by landflls, waste haulers,

roll-o container operators, tire shops, salvage

yards and people who just want to get into the

business o 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 eective machine and the investment

has paid o. “It has saved us 50 percent in

production costs. Beore 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

owns is ar rom needing to be replaced

completely, England does stress that i he ever

had to replace the machine, he would defnitely

purchase one rom 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

o their machines that does de-rimming and

can lit the truck tires or you.”

England goes on to say, “The people at

DESCO have been nothing but good to me.

I bent a couple o bars on my machine one

time—just rom normal abuse—and I called

them and they shipped the parts right out. Youreally don’t fnd olks like that anymore.”

 

©2010 Waste Advantage Magazine, All Rights Reserved.Reprinted from Waste Advantage Magazine.Contents cannot be reprinted without permission from the publisher.

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