Junk RemovalSteve Heimsath
If you are working out what to do with old tires in Manchester, NH, you have three practical ways out: the city’s Drop Off Facility on Dunbarton Road, a tire shop, or a hauler. The facility’s fee sheet, updated July 2026, charges Manchester residents $5.00 a tire on top of a $5 annual permit, and a set of four vehicle tires goes free with a current Manchester vehicle registration. Fees change, so call the facility at (603) 624-6504 before you load up.
Maybe it is the set from a car you sold, or a stack that came with the house. Here is how each route works, what the city and we charge, and when paying us to haul them is worth it. Where the city route is cheaper, we say so.
Does Manchester’s Bulky Pickup Take Old Tires?
Not by the city’s own list. Tires are not among the items the city’s bulky items page says its $25 pickup appointment covers. The city’s What Goes Where lookup is blunter about a tire: “There is no curbside collection for this item.” It names the Drop Off Facility as the best option, though it also lists bulky item collection under other options, which the bulky page’s own list does not back up.
So the city’s pages point two ways. Before you pay $25 for an appointment, or put a tire out with your trash, call the Highway Division’s trash and recycling line at (603) 624-6444 and ask. The trash collection page’s list of materials not allowed in carts does not mention tires, which is one more reason to call rather than guess.
For what the bulky pickup does take, and who qualifies, see our rundown of Manchester’s bulk trash rules.
Who Can Drop Off Old Tires at the City Facility in Manchester?
Manchester residents who hold the facility’s $5 annual permit. The Drop Off Facility at 500 Dunbarton Road is the city’s transfer station, and the city’s page for it lists tires among the materials it takes.
The permit is sold only at the facility, on the same visit if you like, and it is good for a year from the day it is issued. To get a residential one, you show proof that you live in Manchester, such as a current driver’s license with a Manchester address.
The facility’s fee sheet, updated July 2026, charges residents $5.00 a tire and lists bicycle and mower tires at $1.00. Tires from automotive vehicles go free only if you show a current Manchester vehicle registration. Bring the original, because the sheet says copies are not accepted, and each set of four free tires needs its own registration. The sheet does not say whether that also waives the $5 permit.
The sheet is also silent on tires still mounted on rims, how many tires one visit can bring, and larger truck tires. Ask about all three when you call (603) 624-6504, and confirm the fees while you are on the phone.
The facility is open weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on the first and third Saturdays of the month from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. The scale closes at 2:45 on weekdays and 12:45 on Saturdays. It takes card, cash or check, and the sheet notes a processing fee on credit card payments. You do the loading and the driving.
Why Can’t Manchester Landlords Drop Off Tenants’ Old Tires?
Because two lines on the city’s fee sheet, read together, leave a landlord who does not live at the property without a permit that covers tires.
The first line is about permits. A residential permit goes only to people living at the address the waste comes from, and the sheet adds that “landlords and property management companies must obtain a commercial permit.”
The second is the tire fee. Where residents get a price, the commercial entry reads “Not excepted.” It sits where a price would be, so we read it as not accepted.
Put together, a landlord clearing out a tenant’s old tires has no residential permit to use, and the commercial permit does not appear to take tires. That is our reading, not a city statement, so confirm it with the facility at (603) 624-6504. Ask the same question if you live in one unit and rent out the others, because the sheet does not say how it treats an owner who lives on site.
A tenant who still lives there is a resident and can get a permit of their own, since the sheet treats separate units at one address as separate households. Once the tenant moves out, the routes left are a tire shop or a hauler, both covered below.
Will a Tire Shop Recycle Your Old Tires in Manchester?
It can, on the shop’s terms, and a shop is one of the two routes the state points homeowners to. The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) page on tires says homeowners can recycle scrap tires through an automotive garage, or ask their local transfer station what it offers, and that fees may apply either way. In Manchester, that transfer station is the Drop Off Facility.
The simplest version is to leave the old set at the shop when it mounts your new tires. Ask about any disposal fee when you get the quote, so it is not a surprise on the bill.
If you are not buying tires, call first. Whether a shop takes tires it did not sell you, how many it takes and what it charges for them are that shop’s decisions.
What Happens to a Recycled Tire After It Leaves Your Garage?
The 2020 NHDES fact sheet on scrap tire management lays out the options: a scrap tire can be chipped or shredded, then burned for energy at a permitted plant or used in engineered construction, and burying it is the least preferred option. The same fact sheet says New Hampshire regulates scrap tires as solid waste.
The fact sheet opens with why: improperly managed piles of scrap tires can be a significant fire threat, and water trapped in them gives mosquitoes, which can carry disease, a place to breed. That is reason enough not to leave a stack outside for another summer.
The fact sheet says tire chips can be burned for energy at properly equipped, permitted waste-to-energy facilities. It lists tire shreds as lightweight embankment fill, drainage layers and insulation that limits frost under roads, in projects designed and built under the direct supervision of a professional engineer licensed in New Hampshire. It also says the open burning of tires is prohibited.
When tires are landfilled, the fact sheet says they must first be quartered, split or shredded to cut the chance they resurface, and only at authorized facilities. So if you have read that tires are banned from landfills, that is not New Hampshire’s rule: tires are not on the NHDES list of waste types state law bans from landfills and incinerators.
The tires we haul go to a tire recycler, and the steel goes to a metal recycler.
How Much Does It Cost to Haul Old Tires From a Manchester Property?
Our printed charge for a car tire under 19 inches, off the rim, is $8, which is more than the city’s $5.00 resident fee. The Drop Off Facility’s fee sheet, updated July 2026, charges a Manchester resident $5.00 a tire plus the $5 permit, or no tire fee for a set of four vehicle tires with a current Manchester vehicle registration. Check those fees with the facility before you go, because they change.
Here is the full printed list from our What We Take page: car tires under 19 inches are $8 each, or $15 on the rim, and truck tires over 19 inches are $35 to $50 each on rims. Large equipment tires get a price when you call. The page lists these under items that carry a recycling charge, which it calls our actual cost, not a markup. Our quote includes that charge, single items start at $35, and anything else you want gone goes into the same quote.
So if you live in Manchester and your car tires are off their rims and fit in your car, take them to Dunbarton Road. It will cost you less than we do.
We are worth the call when the tires are on rims too heavy to lift, when they are part of a garage or basement that needs clearing, when nothing you own will carry them, or when you cannot get there before the scale closes. The crew carries them out, rims and all, and you approve the price before anything moves. How our tire pickup works has the rest, and the trucks that cover Manchester load at our yard in Hooksett, next door.
Quick Recap
- The city’s pages point two ways on bulky pickup for tires, and its What Goes Where lookup says there is no curbside collection for a tire. Call the Highway Division at (603) 624-6444 before you pay $25 for a bulky appointment or put a tire out with your trash.
- The Drop Off Facility’s fee sheet, updated July 2026, charges Manchester residents $5.00 a tire plus a $5 annual permit, and a set of four vehicle tires goes free only with a current Manchester vehicle registration: the original, one set of four per registration. Call (603) 624-6504 first, because fees change.
- The fee sheet does not say how the facility handles tires on rims, how many tires one visit can bring, or larger truck tires, so ask.
- NHDES says homeowners can recycle scrap tires through an automotive garage, or ask their local transfer station what it offers, and that fees may apply either way.
- The NHDES fact sheet says landfilled tires must first be quartered, split or shredded, and only at authorized facilities, and that the open burning of tires is prohibited.
- For car tires off their rims, the city charges a resident less than we do. Our printed charge is $8 for a car tire under 19 inches, $15 on the rim, and $35 to $50 for a truck tire over 19 inches on rims, and single items start at $35.
