Dispose of old plates
If you replace any type of license plate except those listed below, you may dispose of the old plates in any of the following ways:
- Take them to your local vehicle licensing office.
- Mail them to us at:
Department of Licensing
1125 Washington St SE
Olympia, WA 98504 - Remove or invalidate the month and year tabs, bend the plates so they can't be used on a vehicle, and recycle them so they can't be confused with a valid Washington license plate. Don't put them in curbside recycling unless you contact the recycler first to see if the plates will be accepted.
- Remove or invalidate the month and year tabs and keep the plates. They can't be displayed on a vehicle.
If you replace any of the following types of plates, you must return the old plates to a vehicle licensing office:
- Commercial Vehicle plates (gross weight over 12,000 pounds)
- Personalized plates
- Disabled Parking plates
- Collector Vehicle plates
- Horseless carriage plates
- Baseball Stadium plates
- Amateur Radio Operator (HAM) plates
- Disabled American Veteran plates
- Purple Heart plates
- Medal of Honor plates
- Pearl Harbor survivor plates
- Gold Star plates
