I have a friend that does scrap cars, and he has no way of getting rid of old tires. He wants them hauled off. What does he need to do? Thanks.
Steve J.
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Try posting notices on public bulletin boards (like grocery stores) and notifying plant nurseries that they are available free of charge to gardeners. We use them 4 high for potatoes and I am planting carrots and radishes in them this weekend. They are great season extenders because the earth in them gets warm early spring and stays warm well into winter here. They are great for herbs - I can harvest all but the most tender ones year round from the tire beds. I have some that have been disquised and some that are obviously tires - but they are the best raised beds ever!
Sign up for freecycle AT yahoo.com. Then post the ad for free tires. Someone in the area will want them for free and come and pick them up.
See if his town recycles old tires. Beware they may charge a fee for each tire. I know for my town I had to go to the Town Hall and purchase a permit for about $5 per tire then the recycling company came and picked up the tire.
Give them to persons wanting a container garden above ground. My girl friend does this with hers. Her husband is a mechanic on their property and gets a lot of old tires for her. She fills the tire up with top soil then puts a 5lb bag of good soil that she is using to plant the plant in on top of that. No weeds, no animal damage (rabbits), no slugs because they can not get up to where the plants are. Their garden was so productive this summer that they kept 3 or 4 families supplied with fresh vegetables!
They also take used motor oil to stain their deck and out door buildings with. Again the wood looks really neat this way and no bugs (termites) will eat into it. It is the greatest looking stain color I have ever seen and now I want it!
Good luck.
Unless you line old tires with something, like landscape cloth, you NEVER should grow edibles in tires. The rubber the tires are made of, leach all sorts of bad chemicals into the soil in and around the tires. Your veggie plants absorb those bad chemicals while growing, and then you eat the veggies AND the chemicals they absorbed. Old tires are better to be recycled into new blacktop or paving.
I'd start with City Hall. If the city doesn't recycle them, they should know who does.
They do indeed make great planters, though I would certainly consider washing them carefully for motor oil if you let them near food plants. Sturdy, uncracked tires do make cool swings.
I have seen tires used a lot on lakes, people often cut them to make bumpers, which can hep prevent scratches and damage to dock and boat intact. I would also consider selling them for $5-10 each (garage sale, craigslist, local paper).
If you can't get good use out of them, I would google for your local shedder/recycler, they are often shredded into rubber mulch, or made into other things.
I have a neighbor who works on cars as a hobby/or for friends/family. Our MUA allows each resident to put up to four tires out on particular dates (no fee) - a few neighbors (& us) lets him put them in front of our house too when it's time.
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