With the amount of tires illegally dumped and in landfills, it is important to reuse tires as much as possible.
I Just Gotta Tell Ya
- About 290 Million used tires are thrown away every year
- 55 million tires (19 percent) not reclaimed are being thrown into landfills or, even worse, disposed of illegally on roadsides and properties around the country.
- Discarded tires are convenient breeding grounds for mosquitoes and rodents, which carry a host of diseases, including West Nile virus, encephalitis, dengue fever, and hanta virus.
- Discarded used tires is the risk of fire: tire pile fires can smolder for weeks and months, releasing extremely toxic pollutants into the air, creating serious respiratory and other health problems for people in the vicinity and many miles away. Runoff water from such fires are also laden with toxins, which can contaminate water supplies. In 1999, a tire fire in Westley, California, ignited by lightning, burned for 30 days. The fire produced large amounts of pyrolytic oil that not only contaminated a nearby stream but also ignited and caused additional pollution problems. In 1983, a seven-million tire fire in Rhinehart, Virginia, burned for nine months and polluted water supplies with arsenic and lead.
The good news is Tires can be reclaimed and reused as fuel, engineering projects, roads, mats, flooring, tiles, bed mats, roofing, athlete tracks, furniture, jewelry and more
The best thing you can do
Top 25 Ways To Reuse- Rethink and Repurpose Tires
1.) Start a Potato Garden in your back yard. One way to use tires is to stack three or four of them, fill them with soil and plant two to three seed pieces about 1 or 2 inches deep in the top tire. The black of the tire absorbs and radiates heat, and there usually is a heavy yield. Another method is to put a tire on the ground, fill it with soil and plant the potatoes within the tire
2.) Build Earthships
3.) Use as Bumpers on boat docks or around the houses
4.) Make a Swing
5.) Put in Child’s play area, make a sandbox
6.) Set up an obstacle course
7.) Put around trees and other plants to protect against mowers
8.) Pour concrete in and use for a pole foundation, for clotheslines, sunshades and even tether balls, or climbing plants or trellis
9.) Make Flower Pots
10.) Make Soles for Shoes
11.) Make Tire Art Reused Tire
12.) Create a Mini Greenhouse -Cover tire with clear polythene to create a mini greenhouse or propagator. The thick rubber wall of the tyre is excellent insulation for creating a warm environment to germinate seeds.
13.) Make a Table- Stack a few tires together and put a top on this. Paint tires.
14.) Make a Composter or Wormery.
15.) Use for Retaining Walls
16.) Reuse for Planters
17.) Livestock Feeders
18.) Make Business Signs
19.) Reuse Tires and Make Covers For Gadgets
20.) Make Clocks
21.) Use As Traffic Cones
22.) Build A House- The Tire Log
23.) Make A Sculpture
24.) Make Jewelry
25.) Reuse and Make Furniture
Global Sources– more pics of products made with recycled tires