The number of used tires created every year is staggering. Around 14 million tires produced annually, according to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. That translates to more than one tire per person.

Rather than all these tires landing somewhere in a landfill, polluting the environment, they can be recycled and can translate to a good source of income, and if done right, can earn you around $900 a week or more.

The environmental protection agency banned tires from most landfills as they have a negative impact on the environment, plus they end up as breeding ground for mosquitos and other pests. This means that most tires are left with the people who own them, just lying idly around.

Can you Recycle Old Tires for Cash and earn $900 a Week?

The answer is yes; you can get to $900 a week from recycling tires.

When it comes to getting rid of tires, the environmental protection agency had banned the disposal of tires on landfills. The resulting mess is such that tires are left idly around houses and auto shops. To prevent the pilling up of tires, there are only two options left for recycling.

Transport the tires themselves

Auto shops will have to transport tires themselves to the recyclers, meaning that they will have to incur costs for transportation of tires. These costs can run from time, fuel, and possible costs by the recycling center.

This acts as a deterrent to auto shops transporting the tires themselves.

Schedule a pick up

Recycling facilities are happy to come and pick up the tires from you. However, they have some conditions for them to come to pick up the tires such as; a minimum of 100 tires for the recycling centre to come to pick up the tires.

This means that the auto shop has to have a storage area for them to keep enough tires to send to the recycling centers.

Otherwise, they will have to pay the recycling center to come to pick up the tires, at around $1.00 to $10.00 per tire.

This is another deterrent from recycling. This is where you come in.

You can pick up the tires for free and take it upon you to recycle the tires.

How much can you make from recycling tires?

Auto shops will pay $3 for every tire you take from them to recycle.

Recycling centers are known to charge a flat fee of $1 to recycle your tires.

This means that you are left with $2 per tire. Taking into consideration the gas expenses, storage and wear and tear, you are looking to make around $1.6 per tire.

So how do you translate this into $900 a week?

How to Get Paid for Used Tires

The best bet for you to make $900 a week would require you to go the route of a legit business. This means making some investments towards the business before you can make the amount of money you want in a week.

If retailers can identify you as a legitimate business, then you can acquire their trust in terms of handing over their tires to you for recycling. Otherwise, illegal disposal from the auto shops can go towards illegalities that will result in problems for both of the auto shops and you as a recycler.

Read more:

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Starting a legitimate tire recycling business

First, ensure you read on the local and state regulations when it comes to tire recycling. Understand what the law says about storing and resale of used tires.

Register your business and obtain a business license to start working on recycling.

After successful registration and you have the permission to start working on the recycling business, you can then start marketing your business, and ensure tire retailers and auto shops are aware of you as a legitimate recycling business.

This will allow them to give their tires to you, which in turn will increase the number of tires you can recycle, translating into more money for you.

Create business cards, flyers, and ads to share with local businesses and individuals.

Consideration for Tire Recycling Businesses

After you have marketed your business in the eye of the individuals and tire businesses, you are ready to start getting tires from them.

However, you should be able to transport and store the tires, to get enough of them to translate the $1.6 per tire into $900.

This means that you need around 563 tires to make the amount.

For this number of tires, you will need some equipment including:

I.                 Truck

As part of the business investment, you may need a truck. If you already have one, you are halfway there.

A pickup truck will make it easy for you to collect tires from various people and auto shops for recycling.

As you have already marketed your business, and are still doing so while working, it will not be a problem to get the tires, and auto shops will call you to come to pick up the tires after they have increased in numbers within their shops.

II.                Storage area

If you can transport tires from auto shops and other areas with tires, then you will need somewhere you can store the tires.

You never know the number of tires you might get from auto shops and other areas, and it may need you to get storage space for you to keep the tires, as they may increase in number to a point you cannot transport them all at once.

Also, being that recycling centers will require you to stack up around 100 tires before you can call the recycling center who can come and pick up the tires.

Where to Recycle Tires for Money

Apart from selling tires to the recycling centers, there are other avenues where used tire business is profitable and you can still sell tires and make $900 a week. Some of these avenues will not need you to have as many tries to turn a profit; however, they will depend on your marketing skills and the negotiation powers you have.

So who buys scrap tires?

1.      Craigslist

A great place you can sell your used tires is craigslist.

You can sell used tires at the site for between $30 and $75 each. If you get tires still attached to the rim, the price can go even higher.

How to go about selling on craigslist

·        Picture of the tires

How will you go about to ensure you capture a client through craigslist?

You will first have to register to the site. After successful registration, you can then start posting whatever you are selling, in this case, tires.

Registration on craigslist is free and easy, and it only take a few minutes of your time.

After you are done registering you can now list your tires on the site.

You will need to post a picture of the tires you are selling. Most people want to see what they are buying, and due to the tires being second hand, buyers will be interested in seeing the condition the tires are in before they agree on the purchase price.

For this, you will need a digital camera or any camera that can take good clear photos.

·        Details about the tires

A simple ‘for sale.’ sign tag after posting the tires will not help you sell the tires; rather you will need to be much more detailed.

In the subject line, you can speak more about the tires, and give people a reason to click on your product.

How you describe the product will be quite helpful as you are selling used tires. Ensure you speak about the extent of the wear and tear, and the type of tires you are selling.

·        Price

Most people come to craigslist for deals they would not get anywhere else. Ensure your pricing is well worth the tire, and is quite competitive against other tire sellers to increase the chances for them buying it.

·        Courtesy

Understand that you are getting a favor by people buying your tires, so ensure you act like it.

How you respond to people asking questions will be important, as it will help land a legitimate buyer.

Also, ensure you leave ways for people to reach you, such as your email and phone number.

2.      SellMyTires.com

This is an online platform for tire sales.

Registering on ‘sell my tire’ is free and it will only take you a couple of minutes to get started on the site.

Listing your tires will not be hard, as the site will guide you through the whole process.

The site can come in handy if the tires are not as worn out and can be used by other people.

If you can sell the tires, then both you and the buyer will save some money, as you will earn some extra cash and the buyer will not spend as much as he would on a new tire.

Ensure you follow the same set of instructions as on craigslist while selling the tire to increase your chances at making a sale.

3.      Tire turf

You can sell your used tires here.

The site comes with different levels for placing ads, where they start from free accounts to premium accounts.

For free accounts, you will get a basic tire dealer directory listing, one category plus listing or your tires. The site will also get you one job post.

For the premium choice, the site will offer you a one-year membership where you will get:

• Enhanced tire dealer directory listings
• Unlimited categories for placing your tire ads
• Unlimited job posts in case of any
• Your tires will be the first result in case of search results
• You will get a link to your website if you have any
• You can add a phone number and photos of the tires
• You will get coupons
• You will get reviews, which will help attract more customers

For all these the site will charge you $449 a year!

4.      Sell your tires to your local tire shop

If you have a local tire shop nearby, they can take used tires from you. The tires will have to have sufficient thread life for the local tire shop to make some resale profit from them.

As the local tire shop will rely on reselling the tires to make some profit, you may not make as much from the tires, however, dependent on the number of tires you have stacked up, plus the fact that you got them for free mostly, the money can be sufficient, enough to reach the desired target of $900.

Also if as you are in the business of recycling the tires, it means that the stock will replenish and you can be making weekly or daily trips to local tire shops to sell your tires.

5.      Haul away tires to recycling centers

You can also come in as a transporter for the unwanted tires to a recycling center.

How you can make this work is to charge the auto shops a lower price than they would normally pay to haul their tires to a landfill or recycling center.

If the amount they can pay is worthwhile, meaning that you can turn a profit, then you can get a steady stream of income transporting unwanted tires for them.

However, remember that if you plan to take the tires to a landfill, there are charges involved. Municipal landfills charge certain fees as they will, in turn, pay larger companies to ha the tires to recycling centers. If you take the tires to a recycling center, they will also charge a fee per tire.

It will be important to factor in these costs when charging for transportation.

6.      Sell the tires to a retreading facility

This is a popular option for truck tires used four 18-wheelers.

Retreading the tire will ensure it has an increased tread life and can go back to work.

If your tires meet the retread facility criteria, then you are in luck, and they will give you the tire.

Some of the best retread companies are

• A&A Tire & Wheel Corporate Tire
• Tire Management

In addition to these three companies, there are other local retread shops and places where you can sell the tires. There are certain guides like the retread tire buyers guide, which can come in handy.

You can expect to get paid up to $40 per tire if they fit the desired criteria. This is a good amount of money and can make you a decent income.

7.      Recycling Center

We have already gone over the sale of tires to a recycling center.

The best recycling center however I the USA is the liberty tire enter. You will get paid cash and can take truckloads of tires at once.

8.      Sell to artistes

You can sell the tires to artistes.

Many handmade crafts are made from tires.

If you can get a handmade artisan who uses tire, you may be in luck. However, they cannot take as many tires, unless they are a number of people.

You can also sell the tires online to handicraftsmen who can also buy from you.

9.      Facebook market place

This is another avenue, where you can get clients to buy your tires.

The site has thousands of users, and all you have to do is register and upload your product.

There are various ways you can increase the chances of selling your old tires through Facebook. You can advertise the tires, through paid ads on Facebook. They don’t cost a lot and help you reach a huge audience increasing the chances for a buyer.

It is worth noting that if you caught old tires wit rims attached to them, then that increases the value, and you can get more money.

10.  Etsy

This is another great platform where you can sell your old tires. The site has millions of users, plus is easy and user friendly, making it one of the best places to sell your old tires.

To get started on the site, you will have to register first. After successful registration, then you can start listing your tires on the site.

To list your first item, you will get charged $0.20. The money is meant for catering for the transaction.

The site also comes with tools to help you manage your listings easily, and ensure you also increase your reach.

The site will also provide 24-hour support, and you will get a specialist at hand whenever you need them. The site will also provide you with tips as you go along.

If you are able to make a sale, the site will take a commission of 5%, and pay you the rest through PayPal.

The site will also charge a 15% offsite ads fee. This payment is meant to cater to advertising across different platforms. However, the site is set in such a manner that you will only pay and ad fee if the tire is purchased through one of the offsite websites.

The site processes payment through PayPal.

11.  eBay

This is one of the potential sites, where you can get decent pay.

To get started on eBay, you will have to register on the site successfully. After registration, you can start listing the tires on the site.

eBay is an auction site, meaning the highest bidder will get the prize.

For this to work to your advantage, you must be good at presenting the tire, such that it will attract customers.

Ensure the type of pictures you take for the tires are all rounded and have a clear depiction of the condition of the tire.

Also, ensure that on the description you give a detailed account of the tires. Simply indicating the tires are on sale will not do. Go into detail as to the tread life, the company, size and the number of tires I stock.

Also, leave a way for potential customers to contact you.

Finally, be courteous. It is important as it helps in customer retention. The way you reply to customer questions regarding the tire may put them off or encourage them to buy.

Use old tires to make stuff you can sell

At times, you may not be able to sell all the tires. You can come up with some creative ways to ensure you sell the tires, although in different forms.

You can use the tires to make other stuff you can sell.

Make a tire swing

Check the tire for any wires and drill several holes on the side of the tire that will not be for sitting. Clean the tire and remove any dirt properly. Find a rope and attach to the tire. The rope should be able to hold a decent amount of weight. Choose a number of chain ropes that you will add to the swing. One will be for the traditional vertical style; the other three will act as support.

After making the swing, you can sell them on various platforms. If you can do some good marketing, you can sell a few or many units and make some income.

When is the best time to recycle used tires?

Supply and demand are important as with most goods and services. Cash rates are always higher during certain times and lower during others. If you can be able to store the tires till you can earn more per tire, then you may decide to keep the tires till such a time.

Rates can also vary more for recapped tires. August and September are two of the highest paying months if you plan to sell tires to a recapping facility. Vendors are mostly building their winter inventory during the late summer and early fall months.

Conclusion

For you to make $900 a week or above, you will require to take the business seriously. How you market the business and where you sell the tires will be the make or break for your tire recycling business. Weigh your options, and ensure you are well known among tire shops to increase the number of tires you acquire.