The U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) says about 79% of the 273 million end-of-life tires generated in the United States in 2025 reached end-use markets. The figure comes from the association's 2025 End-of-Life Tire Market Report, released Oct. 27. The report also finds that illegal and abandoned stockpiles fell 12% in two years, while several domestic markets shrank and exports rose sharply.

USTMA publishes the report roughly every two years and has done so since the early 1990s, giving it more than three decades of data on end-of-life tire generation, markets and stockpiles. The association calls it the most comprehensive national reporting available. It says tires remain the second-most recycled and reclaimed material after lead-acid batteries, ahead of paper, aluminum, glass and PET plastic.

Anne Forristall Luke, president and CEO of USTMA, describes the picture as mixed:

This report gives a picture of a market in transition. Stockpile cleanup continues, and 79% of end-of-life tires reached end-use markets. At the same time, several domestic markets contracted, and the rise in exports shows strong demand for this material outside the U.S. Together, those trends tell us our markets still depend on a handful of large industrial outlets, and that market development has to be the priority. The data points to where the work is needed, and much of that work is already underway.

Anne Forristall Luke, president and CEO of USTMA

Stockpiles keep shrinking

Nationally, illegal and abandoned stockpiles fell to about 42.1 million tires, down from about 48 million in USTMA's 2023 report. That is a 12% decline in two years and a 96% reduction from the billion-tire peak in 1990. Colorado's cleanup program drove the national drop, drawing down more than 12 million tires. New Jersey and Pennsylvania also cut their stockpiles substantially, and North Carolina, Tennessee and Delaware fully resolved theirs. Land disposal fell nearly 11% to 779 thousand tons.

Markets move in both directions

Tire-derived fuel remains the largest single market at about 1,317 thousand tons, followed by ground rubber at about 1,201 thousand tons. Cement kilns grew about 5% to 821 thousand tons and now account for 62% of tire-derived fuel. USTMA says carbon dioxide reduction pressure and the fuel's biogenic content make it an attractive alternative for kilns. Reclamation projects grew about 10%.

The contractions came largely from conditions outside the tire industry's control, according to the association. Pulp and paper mill closures took that market down 40%, and changes to Michigan energy law cut utility boiler volume by about 22%. Synthetic turf is losing share to cork, coconut husk and olive pit infill, and molded and extruded products pulled back from an unusually strong 2021 peak. USTMA adds that broader energy market volatility has affected the economics of tire-derived fuel compared with conventional fuels.

Exports climb

Exports grew 270% since 2023, from 253 thousand tons to 936 thousand tons, making them the third-largest destination for U.S. end-of-life tires. USTMA says growth is led by a fast-expanding market in India, on top of steady fuel exports to other Asian markets such as Japan and South Korea. The association calls on all exporters to make sure their destination markets are environmentally sound and economically viable.

Amelia Chucholowski, associate director of sustainability and recycling policy at USTMA, says the priority remains domestic:

International demand further demonstrates that this material has real value, but our priority is domestic circular end-use markets, because a tire processed here supports a U.S. recycler, U.S. jobs and U.S. infrastructure. That includes ensuring that domestic processors have adequate feedstock. We're watching it closely and working with our global partners both to understand what's driving this trend and to report it transparently.

Amelia Chucholowski, Associate Director, Sustainability and Recycling Policy at USTMA

Work underway that the 2025 data does not capture

USTMA says several investments now underway should show early impact over the next 12 to 24 months. It lists:

Environmental product declarations funded by the Tire Recycling Foundation (TRF), which give design professionals the verified lifecycle documentation that procurement increasingly requires.
Expanding chip seal applications and continued progress on the dry process for rubber-modified asphalt.
Infrastructure dollars moving toward pavement projects. Kentucky awarded more than $1.16 million from its Waste Tire Trust Fund in 2025 for nine county rubber-modified asphalt projects. Michigan state grants helped pay for rubberized asphalt streets in Ann Arbor, and a nearby Washtenaw County road project using the same material won a national paving award. California made $6.57 million available for rubberized pavement grants in its 2025 to 2026 fiscal year, and Caltrans committed $9 million to repave State Route 39 with rubberized asphalt.
Emerging technologies reaching commercial scale, with pyrolysis now measurable for the first time.
The TRF itself, a joint initiative of USTMA and the Tire Industry Association that advances education, research and demonstration projects.

Chucholowski says the report should be read as a snapshot:

The work that actually grows these markets is underway right now, and almost none of it shows up in a 2025 market report. Read this report as a snapshot of 2025. What we're building now will be measured against in the future.

Amelia Chucholowski, Associate Director, Sustainability and Recycling Policy at USTMA

The report also includes state-by-state stockpile data. Chucholowski points to state programs as the reason for the long-term decline:

State programs have built one of the country's great recycling success stories. 96 percent of the tire stockpiles that existed in 1990 are gone, and the lesson is clear: when states fund their programs, enforce the rules and invest in markets, results follow. The next chapter is about markets. The more states invest in uses like rubber-modified asphalt, the more tires become roads, products and energy here at home.

Amelia Chucholowski, Associate Director, Sustainability and Recycling Policy at USTMA

The full 2025 End-of-Life Tire Market Report is available from USTMA.

Tagged: ground rubber

USTMA Report: 79% of U.S. End-of-Life Tires Reached End-Use Markets in 2025