A challange for the future
Tires are one of the most difficult items to recycle today. But a solution is needed. Millions of tires are dumped yearly at landfill sites or illegal deposits.
This lens will try to show what you can do and why tires are difficult to recycle properly.
Why are tires hard to recycle?
Shredding
Tires used to be made of natural rubber, but lately, due to the increased demand for rubber, they are now made from synthetic rubber. The tires can only be shred to tiny pieces with a big machine. The machines are very unstable and break more often than not.
Vulcanization
To reinforce tires and make them more weather proof, a technique to vulcanize tires was invented. Making them stronger also made them even more difficult to shred, and vulcanized rubber cannot be remelted resulting in less recycling and more dumping.
Methods to devulcanize the rubber are being developed now, but as with any research, these things take time.
Steel and Kevlar
To make things worse, bigger tires and heavy duty tires are reinforced with steel or Kevlar (mainly aircraft tires). The steel and Kevlar make it impossible to shred the old tires.
Tires used to be made of natural rubber, but lately, due to the increased demand for rubber, they are now made from synthetic rubber. The tires can only be shred to tiny pieces with a big machine. The machines are very unstable and break more often than not.
Vulcanization
To reinforce tires and make them more weather proof, a technique to vulcanize tires was invented. Making them stronger also made them even more difficult to shred, and vulcanized rubber cannot be remelted resulting in less recycling and more dumping.
Methods to devulcanize the rubber are being developed now, but as with any research, these things take time.
Steel and Kevlar
To make things worse, bigger tires and heavy duty tires are reinforced with steel or Kevlar (mainly aircraft tires). The steel and Kevlar make it impossible to shred the old tires.
Make a tire swing
What do you need
A clean old tire (wash it!)
Rope
A piece of rubber hose
Get started
Cut the rope to the desired length. Measure from the branch to the height you want the swing to be, and add a little extra for knots.
Enter the rope into the hose, making sure the hose will rest on top of the branch to protect the branch and your rope.
Drill a big hole at the bottom of the tire so the rain can drip away ...
Throw the rope over the branch placing the rubber hose on top of the branch and tie it up. Leave some space open.
Get someone to hold the tire at the desired height (or something) and tie the other end of the rope to your tire.
Check the capacity of your swing. A thicker branch, closer to the trunk, can support the most weight.
A clean old tire (wash it!)
Rope
A piece of rubber hose
Get started
Cut the rope to the desired length. Measure from the branch to the height you want the swing to be, and add a little extra for knots.
Enter the rope into the hose, making sure the hose will rest on top of the branch to protect the branch and your rope.
Drill a big hole at the bottom of the tire so the rain can drip away ...
Throw the rope over the branch placing the rubber hose on top of the branch and tie it up. Leave some space open.
Get someone to hold the tire at the desired height (or something) and tie the other end of the rope to your tire.
Check the capacity of your swing. A thicker branch, closer to the trunk, can support the most weight.
Make your own tire sandals
There is a really good article on making your own sandals from old tires. You can find it at Hollowtop.com.
What do you need
An old tire
Good knife
Some straps
Get started
Read the sandal article here
What do you need
An old tire
Good knife
Some straps
Get started
Read the sandal article here
Entertain the kids with a tire sandbox
What do you need
A big tire (the bigger the better?)
Sand
Get started
Just put a washed & clean tire on its side where you want the sandbox to be, put cardboard cover on the bottom of the tire (inside the tire, big enough to cover the hole) and fill with sand. It's that easy.
If you want to make it a bit more attractive you can first paint the tire.
A big tire (the bigger the better?)
Sand
Get started
Just put a washed & clean tire on its side where you want the sandbox to be, put cardboard cover on the bottom of the tire (inside the tire, big enough to cover the hole) and fill with sand. It's that easy.
If you want to make it a bit more attractive you can first paint the tire.
