From toothbrushes to helmets, some things are never a good idea to purchase second hand. Other things, like cars and clothes, are popular to pick up for less from a previous owner. Between these two extremes, thousands of items lie in the gray area. You can buy a bike secondhand, but getting a new one might be more reliable. What about an iPhone? We’ve all felt more than a little unsure seeing swimwear in a thrift shop.
It’s undeniable that buying secondhand is a good rule of thumb if you want to save some money. People purchase many new items without even considering where they might find a used item for half price. One such item is car tires.
You Can Help Tires Go the Extra Mile
While many people use their tires until they are no longer road-worthy, many do not. But just like a car, once a set of tires has been used, they lose value. Even if they only drive around the block, they will significantly decrease in price because they no longer possess the ultimate marketable trait of being “new.”
Where do used tires that are still in good condition come from?
- Flooded cars
- Repair shops recommending tire changes too early (since it gives them more business)
- People changing road tires out for all-terrain tires
- Changing all four tires when only one or two have worn out
- Crashed cars
Before buying a used tire for use on the road, inspect it, find out its age, and measure the tread. The amount of tread remaining is the most crucial aspect. It’s easy to measure using a penny or a quarter. No tread, no use.
You Can Use Tires for More Than Driving
While the tires on the bus going round and round remain the primary use, creative and thrifty people also use tires for various DIY projects. These include:
Building a Backyard Playground: Tires are great for kids’ teeter-totters, swings, climbing gyms, and lilypads.
Hanging Flower Growers:
- Cut the tire in half or hang the whole thing.
- Add drainage holes in the bottom.
- Fill the bottom with soil and transplant your flowers.
- Hang or lean it against a fence or the front of the house.
Front Yard Decorations: Painting tires is a fun activity for all ages. While one painted tire might not make a big impression, a line or fence made from colorful circles can add a lot of cheer, especially in dry areas where grass and shrubs are challenging to grow.
Landscaping: Tires can be packed with dirt or poured concrete and used for erosion control. When stacked on each other, tires create one of the cheapest and longest-lasting retaining walls available.
There are hundreds more ways to use old tires. They can fill in for other more expensive and less durable materials. Are you starting to understand why people might purchase old tires now?
You Can Start a Tire Recycling Business
The world of tire recycling is unfamiliar to most of us. Can tires even be recycled? The short answer is: yes, they can. Officially it’s classified as secondary recycling since old tires are made into other products but cannot be remade into new tires.
Tire recycling happens by passing a tire through a series of tire shredders, rubber mulchers, and wire separators. These machines can process a whole tire down into rubber powder. Other times, the tire rubber is ground into crumb rubber or left as rough shreds. Tire recyclers can market each end product to a wide range of industries. Some of the standard uses are found in:
- Asphalt
- Artificial Turfs
- Base mats
- Playground surfaces
- Tubes and plugs
- TDF (Tire Derived Fuel)
If you’re interested in becoming a tire recycling entrepreneur, the first thing to do is invest in tire shredder equipment. ECO Green has designed the world’s finest tire shredders and crumb rubber grinders. You can even add a colorizing machine to the tire recycling line.
It’s worth getting machines that will run smoothly and last the distance. Check out the ECO Giant. It is a shredder with top specs and outstanding capacity per hour.
You Are Helping the Environment Along the Way
One thing to consider while saving money or even earning money from used tires is that you’re keeping one of the worst pieces of junk out of landfills. Tires in landfills are the perfect habitat for noxious rodents. They also trap noxious gases and present a dangerous fire hazard.
Tires are even more destructive when left on the road or in waterways, leaching toxic chemicals for years. Reusing tires on your vehicle, upcycling them in DIY projects, and recycling them using shredders and mulchers saves the environment from these negative impacts. In the end, people buy used tires because even used tires are still incredibly useful.