It's time to face facts. Your stalwart friends have carried you for thousands of kilometres, through thick and thin, through heat and snow, but they are reaching the end of their life. The end of their life as automobile tires anyway. The amount of tires that reach the end of their life every year is truly staggering. Exact numbers aren't currently available, but if you piled up every tire discarded in North America rest assured that you would have a really, really big pile of tires. Some estimates says that every year one tire gets to the end of the road for every man, woman, and child on the continent. What to do with all these discarded is a bit of a head ache. Throwing them in landfills is simply wasteful. Not only do they take up landfill space we cannot afford to use, but tires are packed with energy and valuable plastics that present recycling techniques can help to reclaim. Depending on how badly worn your tires are, you may be able to sell them to a used tire shop. If this is not an option, you may want to visit http://www.catraonline.ca/. This is the site of the Canadian Association of Tire Recycling Agencies (CATRA). Formed in 1999, CATRA's goal is to enhance scrap tire recycling across Canada and help keep tires out of landfills. People often forget that recycling is just one way to keep stuff out of landfills. When it comes to tires, it is also possible to reuse them. We've already covered selling them, but if the tires are too worn this is not possible. However, there are other ways to reuse your old tires. If you have enough used tires, you can build a house. Seriously. They are called Earthships, and they are environmentally friendly, not to mention beautiful, self-sufficient, and cheap to build. If building an entire house seems a bit ambitious, then another option is to cut the tire in half like a biscuit. This makes a handy backyard water trough for your family dog. Painted, it makes an unusual planter for bedding plants. Tires are hard to dispose of because they are very durable. But it is this very durability that makes them useful in a variety of outdoor applications. With a little creativity and effort you can keep them out of landfills and use them to make something beautiful. |
