Automotive Waste | Virginia DEQ

Vehicles

Waste Tires

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:

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.
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:

Satisfactorily pass a DEQ records check;
Have a local business license;
Have a viable destination for the waste tires; and
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.

Private owners involved in cleaning up certified tire piles (piles of over 500 tires placed on private property without the owner’s knowledge and/or in place before 1993) may be eligible to receive Red Stamps, which would allow the waiving of a tip fee at a participating tire recycler.

Waste Tire End User Reimbursement Program

DEQ is proud of its ongoing efforts to strengthen the market for Virginia-derived waste tire material. The agency's End User Reimbursement (EUR) Program -- authorized in 1994 by the Virginia General Assembly (§10.1-1422.4 of the Code of Virginia) -- provides a financial rebate to those recyclers who use Virginia tire material in their products or processes.

The EUR program provides incentives in the form of direct payments to waste tire end users of Virginia-generated waste tire material, who capture, process and/or beneficially use waste tires generated in Virginia. At this time, reimbursement rates are $15 per ton for current flow tire material or $100 per ton for waste tire material from a DEQ certified tire pile.

Eligible End Uses

According to the provisions of the Waste Tire EUR Regulations, eligible end uses include:

Incineration of waste tire materials for energy recovery.
Civil engineering applications which utilize waste tire material as a substitute for soil, sand, or aggregate in construction projects such as road bases and embankments, septic system drainage media, fill material and several landfill applications. NOTE: Civil engineering is particularly well suited for use of old, dirty and decaying tire pile tire material.
Products made from waste tire materials such as rubberized asphalt, mats, recreational surfaces, drainage systems, building materials and recycled products.
Pyrolysis of waste tires.

Waste tires must be shown to have been generated in Virginia through documentation, such as a Waste Tire Certification. Waste tires are considered Virginia-generated if they meet one of these criteria:

Discarded as the result of a sale, trade, or exchange in Virginia; or
from a Virginia tire pile that existed prior to the effective date of the Regulation (December 20, 1994).
From a Virginia tire pile that was created without the property owner's knowledge or permission.

Interested applicants, should download and complete the DEQ-EURR form.

Used Oil, Oil Filters, Antifreeze and Other Fluids

Used motor oil, oil filters, antifreeze and other automotive engine maintenance fluids contain chemical compounds that can be harmful to humans and other animals. When managed properly, these fluids can be recycled or "beneficially used."

Businesses engaged in auto repair must manage these fluids as required by DEQ's Petroleum Tanks Program.

Persons who change the motor oil and other fluids in their personal vehicles should:

Drain as much oil from the filter as possible and place the oil filter in a plastic bag. Dispose of the used oil filter at your local solid waste collection center (i.e. landfill/transfer station) or place with other household waste to be collected by your local waste collection agency.
Collect and store fluids in watertight containers. Use separate containers for each fluid. DO NOT mix used oil with other fluids such as water, antifreeze, degreasers, gasoline or other motor fuels. Mixing makes these fluids more difficult to recycle and re-use.
Take fluids to a collection facility. Contact your local Public Works office to find out if your county or city solid waste collection center accepts these fluids. Commercial recycling facilities and local businesses like gas stations, auto repair shops, and auto parts stores may also accept these materials. DO NOT put containers in your blue recycling bin.
DO NOT dispose of fluids by placing them into or on driveways, ditches, dry wells, surface water, roadways, storm sewers, etc. The discharge of oil into or upon state lands, waters, or storm sewers is a violation of Article 11 of Virginia Water Control Law. Persons discharging in this manner may be fined and/or be required to clean up that discharge.

Mercury Switches

Batteries