JUN 01

Tires are among the shining success stories of the recycling industry. They have been ground up and recycled to produce items such as shoe soles, synthetic turf for sports fields, and even cell phone accessories.

Now a New York-based company has come up with a new use for recycled tires – building material for earthquake resistant structures. Re-Tread Products' Tire Logs made their grand debut last week at the Greener By Design conference in San Francisco.

The logs are arguably the best recycled tire application yet, as they require the least power to create. They are produced by a commercially available sidewall removing machines. Rather than grinding, which is more energetically intensive, the machines slice tires up. An inner core of tire strips is wrapped in helical fashion with other tire strips. The end result is a tire log.

Re-Tread CEO Tom Hanson says the logs have a variety of uses, including retaining walls, highway noise barriers, sandbag replacements for erosion control and security barricades, and as an earthquake-resistant home building material. He states, “It can withstand deformations that would crack or break conventional building materials.”

Re-Tread hopes to turn the 300 million tires discarded every year into a flexible and useful product. It has applied for a federal stimulus grant, which would allow it to open a full manufacturing facility this fall.

Comments (6)

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written by Aleks, June 01, 2009

Well, the idea to create a building material from the retired tires is not new. Last month I've visited Earthship community in Taos, NM. They have been using old tires filled with the clay & mud AS BRICKS for about 20 years.

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Tires
written by Simon, June 01, 2009

I would like to argue the point "arguably the best recycled tire application yet." What about the Patriot 1 Prototype that Global Resource Corp demonstrated recently. The have a continuous feed microwave system that turns old tires into diesel fuel, methane, methane, propane, butane and ash. And all with no emissions.

Surely it is better to capture the energy from the tires than just store it else where without using much energy to do it?

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Used tires for raised bed gardening!
written by Jeff Kurtz, June 02, 2009

I put used tires around my tomato, cucumber, pumpkins etc. Early season provides windbreak and warms the soil for earlier season start. I fill the tires with compost as the plants grow so they start budding with 16+ inches (two tires) of nutritional goodies available.

Throw an old storm window over a stack of two tires and you have a nice 'cold frame' for early or late season planting. And no $2 disposal fee!

I wonder if italian seasoning herbs would grow better in Perelli's?

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Marketing manger, The Waste Tire Solutio
written by Rod Johnson, June 06, 2009

Tires used in earth sherltered building systems, agricultural planting, earth stabilization, erosion control and concrete additives work real well.

It is most interesting to note that once the side walls are removed the basic hazards accompanying waste tires are solved.

Rod Johnson Inventor of waste tire applications.

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written by Fred, July 22, 2009

if a building can earthquake proof can that work the same for hurricanes

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written by Teresa, May 08, 2012

The sidewalls can be overlayed, like shingles and reused that way

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