This life cycle assessment (LCA) study investigates two treatment options for used tyres: material recycling where rubber granulate from tyres is used partly for modifica-tion of asphalt and bitumen and partly as infill in artificial turf, and civil engineering where tyres are shredded and used for landfill drainage layers. The study compares nine different environmental impact categories for each treatment option, and it concludes that in all nine impact categories material recycling as an end-of-life treatment option for tyres provides a larger environmental benefit than civil engineering. The difference between the two options is very significant in all impact categories. The results clearly demonstrate that applications of used tyres substituting virgin rubber and using rubber’s properties are environmentally superior to civil engineering.The results as presented in the report refer to one tonne of used tyres as the functional unit. Taking the total amount of waste tyres currently being used for civil engineering purposes in Europe (300,000 tonnes) as an example, 570,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions (corresponding to annual emissions from more than 50,000 Europeans) could have been saved, if the tyres had been used for material recycling instead. There are also savings in all other environmental impacts categories examined.