The Spoken Word

Umbra on bicycle tires 11

Dear Umbra,

Is there such a thing as recycled bicycle tires? I have looked and even asked a friend's husband who wrenches in a local shop. He was not aware of any. I think because people ride their bike they automatically assume they are Earth-"friendlier" than others. But I go through two sets of tires a year (more due to road conditions than my riding style). While it is not a lot, they are still petroleum-based materials. So is there such thing as a "green" tire?

Joe Marquez
Seattle, Wash.

Dearest Joe,

Bicycles are, as you note, so inherently Earth-lovin' that I get hardly any questions about them, which in turn makes it hard to draw attention away from cars and toward the bicycle. I invite more bicycle questions, even if they're related to inhaling car exhaust.

If only this were everybody's problem.

Photo: iStockphoto

Common bicycle tires, the type with an outer shell that sits upon the wheel rim, have three basic parts: the U of woven, mostly nylon fabric; the steel wire "beads" that contact the rim; and the rubber treads atop the U. Rubber treads contain various mixtures of synthetic and natural rubbers, carbon black, additives, and softeners or hardeners, colorants, etc. Proprietary mixtures, I assume, since if a tire manufacturer can't claim uniqueness for each tire -- e.g., "It's [sic] High Density Vectran Guard uses a patented weaving technology" -- how would it make money?

The inner tube that fits inside a basic tire is now almost always made from butyl rubber, a synthetic rubber that is highly impervious to gas transmission. That is, it holds air well, and that is why it dominates the market and poor old latex rubber, made from tree sap and 10 times less air-embracing, languishes in a corner waiting for someone to notice it. Latex rubber tubes are available, and are said to have some nice performance advantages such as suppleness while cornering, as well as coming from a renewable resource. These benefits are countered by their higher price and how often you would need to inflate your tubes -- widely reported as a major hassle of latex. (Latex seems to be the maple syrup of the rubber tree, and if you wish to harvest your own, I found you some instructions.)

You were hoping for recycled bicycle tires -- I think you mean tires with recycled content. I suppose it might be possible to use recycled steel wire in tire rims, or recycled-content nylon mesh in the fabric, but I came across no manufacturers claiming to do this. Rubber itself is recyclable, but vulcanized rubber -- rubber that has been treated to stay hard longer -- degrades in the recycling process. It cannot be turned back into bike tires, rather it becomes playground mats or drip tubing. I did come across a purportedly green polyurethane tire, with highlights including longer wear, no need for a tube, a low-toxin manufacturing process, and recyclability -- but another source deflated the hype, revealing that lower shock absorption on these poly tires can cause the wheel rim to jar loose and suddenly collapse.

I'm a cyclist but I've never been a gear head, so what did I know about tires, right? Until you asked, and I looked around, and according to gear heads on the web, there's a big variety of tires out there, and each has its own special properties and purpose. Finer tire appreciation is not only for racing cyclists. The point being, and my suggestion for you being: go forth and find ye a gear head, perhaps your friend who wrenches, who can fit you with tires that will last longer than six months under your riding conditions.

Props to you, of course, for riding so diligently as to wear out four tires a year, but I refuse to believe that all these years of tire technology can't handle the basics of riding on hard terrain. If punctures are an additional trouble and cause of tube waste, some tires are more puncture-resistant than others, and there are also little strips of rubber sold as puncture-resistant tire inserts. In terms of recycling your dead tires and tubes, ask at your shop or in your local bike club if they will accept them and send them on to be reclaimed with car tires, or if they know where to send them nearby.

Airily,
Umbra

 

Yours is to wonder why, hers is to answer (or try). Send your green-living questions to Umbra.

Umbra Fisk is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcover and Periodicals Unit, floors 2B-4B.

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  1. kdavies Posted 4:00 am
    23 Apr 2007

    Recycl-ingMy husband races is bike, on the road and the dirt.  He spends at least an hour and a half riding every day (not counting the time spent commuting.)  What I want to know is what to DO with all those tires when they're no longer useful for him?  Got any ideas?

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  2. burntpig Posted 4:59 am
    23 Apr 2007

    you can recycle your inner tubeThe tube can be recycled into...wallets and other such stuff.  I contacted Splaff, they make recycled content items such as flip flops, wallets, etc, and they said you can mail, or hand them, your old inner tubes.  Pretty cool.  I wonder if bike shops know about this?
    http://www.splaff.com/
    --- I don't work for splaff---

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  3. burntpig Posted 5:05 am
    23 Apr 2007

    one more thingwhen looking for a bike, look to get a used one if possible, new bikes are pretty taxing on the environment in regards to the resources needed and the energy required for processing, they are pretty dirty to make, but clean to run

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  4. mduruss Posted 1:49 pm
    23 Apr 2007

    get tires with bigger nubs?In the past year or so I've been commuting about 8 miles to work about twice each week, so I may not be putting quite as much wear on my tires as other commuters, but one difference may be that I have mountain bike tires with lots of fat "nubs" or whatever you call the treads.  My commute is partly on rougher country roads and up & down some bigger hills, so I actually find the mountain bike tires very useful.  If they slow me down a bit on smoother/flatter roads, I don't really notice it.

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  5. Greenbeings Nancy Posted 6:49 pm
    23 Apr 2007

    Organisations taking your bicycle tires and partsFollowing are companies who are interested in your unwanted bicycles tires and/or parts:
    Alchemy Goods handmade bags out of tires.  They will not pay you for the tires but will supply you prepaid labels to have them delivered them in Seattle.  Here is the link to their how-to's:

    http://www.alchemygoods.com/pdf/AgTubeCollectionInstructi ...
    Community Cycling Center in Portland wants your bicycles and parts.  They supply some spare parts to Resource Revival and you will be impressed with what they can create with them at this website:

    http://www.resourcerevival.com.  
    If you would like to know more about what they are up to with the bicycles and parts donated, you can read off this link.
    http://www.communitycyclingcenter.org/index.php/about-us/ ...
    I do not work for any of these organisations either.  I just love highlighting people who are able to create abundance from the abandoned in amazing ways.  

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  6. csurow Posted 12:40 am
    24 Apr 2007

    flat minimizationI'm a cyclist (or maybe I should I say was --- I keep hoping to ride more than I have in the last year or so). When I started riding seriously, mostly on crappy debris-strewn shoulders of suburban and exurban arteries, I would get flats with great regularity. Many per year. I switched to kevlar-reinforced tires for my hybrid bike and my flat tire ratio went down to one every several years. I suppose kevlar (the stuff of body armor and bulletproof vests) is pretty anti-ecological in its derivation and manufacture. But maybe there's an offsetting positive in slowing down the consumption cycle as dramatically as these much more durable tires have done for me. Some riders complain about a "harder" feel, but that never bothered me.

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  7. jantos Posted 12:51 am
    24 Apr 2007

    Biking is Green!"I think because people ride their bike they automatically assume they are Earth-"friendlier" than others."
    Sure, two sets of bike tires a year seems like a lot of petroleum products - but how much petrolem products are you NOT burning from a gas tank?  In rough numbers: driving a 25-MPG car 15,000 miles in a year consumes 3,600 pounds of gas and generates 12,000 pounds of carbon dioxide.  A few pounds for bike tires is a drop in the bucket.
    Keep pedaling!

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  8. bailsout Posted 5:14 am
    24 Apr 2007

    bike tiresIf you want to eliminate the wires in the tires you can still go back to the old silk sew-up tires which are still on my old ten-speed. They're old but still hold air and you can't beat em for weight and foldability for packing a spare.

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  9. conewrench Posted 11:17 pm
    24 Apr 2007

    Used Tire UseOld tires make pretty cool chainstay protectors.  Cut the shape your need with a stout pair of scissors, and ziptie to your driveside chainstay.  

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  10. Planner Posted 1:57 am
    25 Apr 2007

    Green bikes DO exist...If you truly want to be green and ride a bike, you can always go the bamboo route: http://www.calfeedesign.com/bamboo.htm
    Of course, you'll have to pay out the nose, like most 'green' things, but if'n you're dedicated....

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  11. Payton Chung's avatar

    Payton Chung Posted 8:00 am
    16 Apr 2008

    Durability & recyclingI average about one flat per bike every 18 months or so (which means three years between flats on any given tire) despite awful potholed streets strewn with debris. The Kevlar (or similar) belt really does help a lot. It costs a bit more per tire, but the tires themselves last for several years.
    Used tires and tubes can sometimes be recycled at places that take car tires for recycling, often for less than $1 apiece. Look 'em up in the phone book -- and, while you're there, take a look around at just how much more waste those cars are generating!

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