By Abigail Longstreth

Copyright jalopnik

Tire waste poses a significant environmental risk. Over the long term, during both active use (which results in toxic tire dust emission) and the eighty-plus years it takes for an individual tire to break down, harmful chemicals will be released by the tire into the environment, such as carbon dioxide and microplastics. In the short term, retired tires that are left to loiter pose a fire hazard and can become a breeding ground for insects and pests. If you willfully leave old tires in your backyard, you’re practically inviting a mosquito problem.

Government-mandated fees that facilitate proper tire recycling are imposed to prevent these issues. Through tire recycling programs, tires are remade into other products like artificial turf, landscaping material, playground surfaces, doormats, and other materials. Your mandatory payment of state tire fees makes the transformation of old tires into new products possible, and in some cases, funds research into new methods of doing so. For this system to work, though, someone has to get your old tires to the recycling point. If you’d prefer not to be that someone, that’s where the tire disposal fee comes in. This covers the cost of transferring your old tires from point A to point B.