There's so many damn used tires littering the sidewalks of this grungy town, Los Angeles should incorporate them into the city seal. Thankfully tires make a fine raw material for building projects and Homegrown Evolution has been experimenting with their many uses over the past year. This week we built a compost bin.
Step one is to cut out the sidewalls. You might be able to do this with a sharp knife, but it's much easier with an electric saber saw. We used a knife to cut a slit to get the saber saw started. Once both sidewalls are cut out you just stack your modified tires up, fill it with compost, put a cover on it (we used a piece of scrap aluminum), and fetch a beer.We'll post another tire project soon.
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11 comments:
Looks great! And so easy, even I can do it. Are there any issues with lead or other contaminants leaching into the compost from the tires?
Matriarchy,
Love your pseudonym! The tire contamination question comes up a lot. I think that the best answer is I don't know. I've heard that degrading tires leach a number of bad things including zinc. The question is how fast will they degrade and will contaminants leach into the compost? The only way to tell would be to have the compost tested and then grow plants in that compost and have those plants tested. More on this confusing question here from Mother Earth News:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Ask-Our-Experts/Organic-Gardening/Tire-Planters-And-Garden-Soil.aspx
Note the pro and con debate in the comments.
This is THE COOLEST THING I have seen all day! Thanks for posting - I've always wanted to see what people did with tires.
Seems that the use of whole tires presents different issues than shredded. I *like* this idea, and it would give me lots of small compost bins I could tuck behind the shrubbery, from free materials.
Great idea! I live in an subdivision under construction and tires are constantly littering my street. I would question using the tire compost in a veggie garden however, used tires are soaked with oil and chemicals. But an inventive solution none the less!
i think this is a pretty sweet idea, i mean all of my tires are going to potatoes, but the idea is pretty similar. in fact, is it even necessary to cut out the sidewall? or should i start my potatoes with the sidewalls out?
This is awesome. I'll have to share photos of the tire chairs I designed and created I've become a pro at cutting tires. I'll be doing a geurilla installation with the chairs in a public space in Pomona over my winter break. I'll send over a link when I get photos up.
This is so timely! We bought a property this year that is litter all over with old tires. I saw how someone was growing potatoes in a stack and thought, "How can I build a composter out of them." YOU answered my question!!! Thanks!
Tire swings made with style and imagination- another wat to recycle:http://www.originaltireswings.net/
EM
If you ever run out ideas on what to make out of those tires you find around, here are instructions on making sandals out of tires. I hope to try that as project in the near future.
http://www.hollowtop.com/sandals.htm
I use tires with both sidewalls cut out to protect young trees. I put down a thick layer of newspaper up to 40 pages thick then put straw to mulch on top of that. When watered deeply the plant stays moist for weeks without further water even in our arid climate. The side walls that I cut out make excellent mowing strip rings around olive trees that dont require deep mulching - and the rings hold in a couple of inches of wood chip mulch around the olive trees that stops weeds and grass invading the new olive trees. Old Tractor Tires with sidewalls cut out make awesome raised garden beds - again use the sheet mulch method to smother weeds.
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