Once the tyre has been fitted, it is considered used, whether it is fitted to the car or not. You might pick one up as a souviner or coffee table on F1Authentics, but the majority are burnt to fuel cement factories.
As part of Pirelli’s ‘green technology’ programme for the betterment of the environment, the tyres are ‘ecologically disposed’, which means they are recycled. The tyres are crushed to fit more of them in fewer containers and then shipped to a cement factory near Didcot, Oxfordshire after each Grand Prix
The shredded tyres form small pellets, which are then burnt at extremely high temperatures as fuel for cement factories. The extremely high temperatures mean that no harmful fumes are released during the process, and the only particle that remains is non-poisonous ash.