According to an online statistics, in the United States 242 million tires are discarded each year. Less than 7% are recycled, 11% are burned for fuel, and 5% are exported. The leftover 78% are sent to landfills, stockpiled, or illegally dumped. There has to be something that we can do with these tires. First, if you don't want to recycle them on your own by doing something creative like a tire swing or a flower bed, contact a local tire supplier (such as Goodyear, NTB) and ask if they have a drop-off bin for your tires. From there, they can...
-Rubber products, like the soles of your Green Toe shoes from Simple Shoes
-On playgrounds. Ever wonder what the soft, squishy ground was made from?
-Athletic tracks
-Fuel
-Planters in a garden
-Pottery
-Fountains and ponds
-Swings
-Retaining walls
-Countless ideas with gardening/planting
-Vertical gardening
and so many more...
Nice post! Years ago, I interviewed a man from Erie who'd invented an alternative road coating made from recycled tires. The road coating resisted cracking -- think: no more potholes. Although he patented the coating and it was used on some roadways in Alaska, it never made its way back to PA and most of the lower 48. Turns out, a roadway that doesn't need to be repaired would take away road-crew jobs and more. (I think he may have been in on the shoe revolution, too, though. He was working on a high-performance athletic shoe made from recycled tires back then.)
ReplyDeleteThat road would be cool. I wonder if it is like the track that I run on?
ReplyDelete