Dispose of old plates
Starting January 1, 2023, vehicle registrations allow the removal of your address. New registrations have your address located on the bottom. There's a dotted line showing where to cut it. This is optional and intended to provide address privacy in case of theft.
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
