How to Recycle Old Used Car Tires?

When you purchase new tires, most tire stores and service stations will take the old tires and dispose of them for you. However, if you have old used tires in your garage or shed, there are several ways to recycle them around the home. Used properly, old, used tires can give many years of enjoyment and be kept out of landfills forever.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Rope Jigsaw with metal cutting blade Potting soil Straw Seed potatoes

Make a Tire Swing

1. Take a heavy rope and fold it evenly in half.

2. Place the loop of the folded rope through the old tire.

3. Take the ends of the rope and string them through the loop, pulling the rope taunt against the tire.

4. Tie the ends of the rope over the sturdy branch of a yard tree.

Make a Flower Planter

5. Use the jigsaw to cut triangles into the rim edges of the tire. The triangles should go from the edge of the tire to the area where the tread begins.

6. Flip the tire inside out. This can be slightly difficult to do alone, so have a friend, spouse or neighbor help. Once done, the tire will look like an open flower with the triangles spreading outward.

7. Fill with potting soil, and plant your favorite flowers.

Grow Potatoes

8. Take four similarly sized tires and stack them one on top of the other.

9. Fill the bottom two tires with straw.

10. Fill the next tire with potting soil.

11. Plant seed potatoes 4 to 5 inches apart in the soil.

12. Fill the top tire with straw.

13. Harvest the potatoes when the plants turn brown by removing each tire and gathering the potatoes in each layer.

Tips & Warnings

• Sweet potato slips can be planted in the same way as regular potatoes. Just make sure the green top portions of the slips are exposed above the top layer of straw. Larger tires, such as those from pick-ups or other trucks, make great tire swings.
• Never burn old tires as this releases toxic fumes and chemicals into the air.