Waste Tire Pile Cleanup

The city of Richland, Washington, has cleared the way to remove the largest waste tire pile in the state — roughly 280,000 cubic feet of scrap tires left to accumulate for nearly two decades on a five-acre site off Twin Bridges Road.

State lawmakers appropriated $3.2 million during the 2026 legislative session to fund the job, split evenly between Washington’s Waste Tire Removal Account and the Model Toxics Control Capital Account. The city council has now approved a service agreement with Liberty Tire Recycling to carry out the removal.

How the Tire Pile Grew

The tires were left by Northwest Recycling Services at 2990 Twin Bridges Road, off Highway 240 at the entrance to the city landfill, after a plan to repurpose them never came together. The city does not own the property but has taken on responsibility for the cleanup, which a Benton County Superior Court order authorized in 2024.

The true scale remains uncertain. The city has estimated as many as 1,471,000 tires on site, while Liberty Tire has put the figure at roughly 1.5 million loose and baled tires, or about 15,600 tons.

Removal, Recycling and What Comes Next

Under the agreement — capped at $3,112,390 — Liberty Tire will provide the labor, vehicles, loading equipment and transportation to clear the site, delivering the tires to authorized facilities with weight tickets, manifests and recycling or disposal receipts. The city says the work could involve shredding the tires on site or hauling them away for recycling or landfilling, with completion required by June 30, 2027.

Officials expect the full process to take about two years, with more time possible if soil remediation is needed. Once the property is cleared, the city plans to return it to productive industrial use.

Learn More About Turning Waste Tires Into Value

• Advanced Tire Pyrolysis Technology
• Recovered Carbon Black Production
• Pyrolysis Oil Recovery
• Feasibility Studies

Partner With The KleanTeam to Turn Tire Stockpiles Into Value

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A 15,000-ton tire pile is not just a fire and health hazard — it is a feedstock opportunity waiting for the right processing plant. Klean Industries builds the tire-pyrolysis facilities that convert legacy stockpiles and ongoing end-of-life tire streams into recovered carbon black, pyrolysis oil and steel, so communities clear the hazard and unlock value at the same time.

Klean’s Key Advantages:

• ✅ Thirty-plus years engineering commercial tire and plastic pyrolysis plants.
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• ✅ Signed LOI to deliver five more rCB plants in India.
• ✅ KBR added Klean’s proprietary TyreNova tire-pyrolysis technology to its IP portfolio.
• ✅ KleanLoop blockchain provides end-to-end scrap-tire feedstock traceability.

Ready to turn a scrap tire stockpile into a profitable processing project?

Speak with a Tire Pyrolysis Expert at Klean Industries » GO.