There are millions of cars cruising down the highways and byways of this great land. Like most everything else we purchase, tires wear out and need replacement. With millions of tires replace each year, what do we do with all the old ones? Most people have seen on TV or in person old scrap tires burned in massive amounts. The pollution to the ground and air is almost impressive in magnitude. There has to be a better option for all our old tires.
Gardening
Gardeners know old tires are great for planting potatoes. When the plants start growing, you just add another tire and a little more dirt and your crop of potatoes keeps increasing in size. While this is a creative approach to gardening, unfortunately not too many tires are needed each year for the home potato crops.
Footwear
Another option for recycling tires is to turn them into footwear. Rubber is perfect for athletic shoes, work boots, and even sandals. These sandals have been worn in third world countries out of necessity and ingenuity for generations. The fad is catching on in the Western world and recycled, rubber-soled shoe sales are on the rise. The shoes are durable and comfortable and, with the creativity of modern designers, they are quite fashionable. Protect your feet while protecting the environment.
If rubber on a tire can cruise down the road at 65 miles an hour, for 45,000 miles, these shoes can easily outlive a person–even an active one.
Artwork
Inventive artist use recycled tires as their medium with impressive results. A Korean artist, Yong Ho Ji has sculpted dozens of amazing monsters and terrifying animals out of old, discarded tires. While this idea will not be the solution to the plethora of tires discarded each year, it does bring awareness to the growing problem with extraordinary artist displays.
Each year over 215 million discarded tires produce sky-high unsightly mountains of rubber. When fires accidentally break out, they are difficult to contain. Tires contain oil that burns easily. These fires produce black clouds of pollution.
Why Recycle?
When old tires fill up with water after a rainstorm, they become perfect little mosquito condos encouraging breeding and happy habitation for these obnoxious little pests. Nothing good comes from stacking and storing old tires. The answer is found in recycling.
Other Ideas
There are of course more industrial ways of recycling large amounts of these old black spheres. Large industries use tires to fuel their furnaces. Tires recycled into mulch and used in playgrounds for soft landing for children. Tires are even turned into mats and tiles for walkways and entryways for businesses.
Almost everything we buy eventually wears out and needs discarding. Tires are no exception. When the time is right to replace your tires, don’t add to the mosquito population. Instead, choose an option like recycling your tires for shoes, art, industry, and playgrounds through a company like Eco Green.