Vermont is one of 14 states with no dedicated scrap-tire program.

by Compass Vermont

September is Vermont River Cleanup Month. The Agency of Natural Resources marked it with Secretary Julie Moore joining Friends of the Winooski volunteers along the river in Montpelier, and cleanups are happening across the state throughout the month.

The volunteers keep finding the same thing: tires. The Connecticut River Conservancy’s annual Source to Sea Cleanup has logged 14,849 tires pulled from the river’s watershed across four states since 1999. Last year, one crew on the Black River in Springfield hauled out 17 tires and 15 and a half shopping carts.

Getting rid of a tire the legal way costs money. Vermont bans tires from landfills. Tire dealers typically charge $3 to $5 a tire to take them, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation, and transfer stations that accept tires charge a fee too. Fees vary. When Seven Days tracked Vermont’s tires in 2002, dealers charged $2 to $3.

How Big the Tire Problem Is

The state’s figures come from a presentation by Matt Chapman, director of ANR’s Waste Management and Prevention Division, to the House Environment Committee in January:

• Vermonters throw out an estimated 645,000 tires a year, roughly one per resident.
• A 2013 state report estimated 417,000 to 458,000 problem scrap tires in piles statewide. Chapman cited that estimate again in January. The presentation gave no updated count.
• Chapman’s presentation cited an industry estimate that 95% of scrap tires are legitimately managed.
• Vermont is “one of 14 states with no scrap tire management program.”

The Proposal Lawmakers Considered

H.204, sponsored by then-Rep. Chris Taylor, a Milton Republican, and Rep. Leanne Harple, a Glover Democrat, would have made tire makers responsible for old tires. The approach is called extended producer responsibility: the company that sells a product pays to take it back at the end of its life. Vermont already uses the same approach for electronics and mercury light bulbs.

Under the bill:

• Dropping off old tires would have been free, at no fewer than two year-round sites in every county. Tire dealers, towns and licensed waste facilities could sign up as sites at no cost.
• Sites would have had to take up to 12 tires per visit, of any brand.
• In the first year, tire makers would have had to collect as many old tires as half the new ones they sold in Vermont the year before, or pay 50 cents to $1 for every tire they fell short. That money would go toward proper tire disposal, including clearing old piles.
• Tire makers would have had to propose a plan for clearing old piles, which could include paying property owners or bounties on tires turned in.
• At least half of collected tires would have had to be recycled or reused. Burning them for fuel wouldn’t count.
• Handing your tires to an unlicensed hauler would have counted as illegal dumping.

ANR’s testimony recommended changes: requiring certified haulers and facilities, moving registration of new tire makers to the organization running the program, and pushing the start dates back two years.

The committee also heard from the tire business. Mark Rochefort, owner of Vermont Tire; Sean Moore of the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association; Matt Cota of the Vermont Vehicle and Automotive Distributors Association; and Mitchell Jay, owner of Central Vermont AutoMart, testified in person. None posted written testimony. According to FYIVT’s account of the Feb. 4 hearing, industry groups opposed the bill. They argued that producer-pays programs focus on collecting tires rather than building markets for recycled rubber, and could bring added costs and unintended consequences. John Leddy of the Northwest Vermont Solid Waste Management District also testified; FYIVT reported that district managers described today’s collection system and the limited market for recycled tire rubber.

The committee took up H.204 on six dates between April 2025 and a final work session on Feb. 10, 2026, but never sent it to the House floor. A Senate version, S.177, never got past being assigned to a committee. Both bills died when the two-year legislative session ended, so any tire program would need a new bill in January.

Who Would Pay

Today, you pay: $3 to $5 a tire at the dealer, or the transfer station’s fee. Under H.204, dropping off tires would have been free, and tire makers would have paid for collection and recycling. The bill does not establish what would happen to retail tire prices.

When the Vermont Daily Chronicle covered the bill in January, readers commenting on the story argued Vermonters would simply buy their tires in New Hampshire.

What Has Cut Litter Elsewhere

None of these efforts involved tires, and none shows how H.204 would have worked. They show what has moved littering behavior before.

A 2009 national study for Keep America Beautiful found 81% of the littering it observed was deliberate, and that people litter more where trash is already lying around.

Two campaigns and one law have measured results:

• Texas. The “Don’t Mess with Texas” campaign aimed its ads at young men 16 to 24, the group researchers found did most of the littering. Roadside litter fell 72% between 1986 and 1990.
• Bottle deposits. State-funded studies in the 1970s and 1980s found drink-container litter fell 69% to 84% after deposit laws took effect, according to a group that advocates for them. Vermont passed its bottle bill in 1972.
• Nationally. Keep America Beautiful’s 2026 study found litter in waterways down 45% since 2020. The group counts beverage and packaging companies among its funders. In 2021, Greenpeace criticized an earlier Keep America Beautiful study for putting the focus on individuals rather than packaging.

Compass covered the sewage side of river pollution in April: We Know What Vermont Farms Contribute to Lake Pollution. What About the Sewers?

Getting Rid of Old Tires

• When you buy new tires: the dealer will usually take your old ones, typically for $3 to $5 each. Fees vary.
• At a transfer station: many town and solid waste district sites take tires for a fee. Call your district or town first to check price and limits.
• Wheels for Warmth, Oct. 29 to 31: drop off tires Thursday and Friday, Oct. 29 and 30.
  • 2 to 6 p.m.:
    • Vermont Granite Museum, 7 Jones Bros. Way, Barre
    • Casella Waste Systems, 220 Avenue B, Williston
    • Casella Construction, 1385 US-7, Pittsford
  • 1 to 5 p.m.:
    • Stowe Events Field, 80 Weeks Hill, Stowe
    • Calkins Rock Products, 34 Calkins Dr., Lyndon
    • SEVCA, 91 Buck Dr., Westminster
  • Tires good enough to resell go on sale Saturday, Oct. 31, 8 a.m. to noon, in Barre and Pittsford. Tires that can’t be resold cost $5 each ($10 for truck tires) and are donated for farm use.
  • Proceeds pay for emergency heating help through Vermont’s community action agencies. Details from Capstone Community Action
• Don’t hand tires to someone offering to haul them cheap unless they’re a licensed hauler. Tires that disappear that way can end up dumped.
• More: Vermont DEC tire disposal page