Since 1992, about 52 million tires in Alberta have been recycled into useful items. These products include the playground surfaces your kids jump on at local parks, to roofing tiles, and mattresses for livestock.
Recycling tires is great for the environment. It frees up large amounts of landfill space, helps reduce the risk of tire fires, and eliminates the potential breeding grounds of mosquitoes that might carry West Nile virus.
In 1997, The City completed a three-year project that removed more than two million tires from the Shepard landfill for recycling.
Today, in partnership with the province, The City plays another key role. The Shepard Landfill Marshalling Site takes in 1.6 million tires annually. These tires are trucked in from an area that includes Red Deer, south to the U.S. border.
These used tires are typically gathered at locations like gas stations, or come from large trucks or agricultural machinery. At the Shepard facility, the tires are sorted and then quickly shipped off to manufacturers to be processed for recycling purposes.
The Shepard site is important because it centralizes tire collection in one five-acre location. Here, strict guidelines ensure tires don't become a concern to public safety.
Fast facts about tire recycling
• Albertans buy and discard about 5 million tires each year
• about 52 million tires have been recycled since 1992
• Albertans have saved more than $230 million by keeping scrap tires out of landfills
For more information, visit the Alberta Recycling Management Authority 
Web site. Or call toll-free at 1-888-999-8762.
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