Learning to Appreciate Recycling: Look at All the Energy That Goes Into Remolding Tires
By Rain Noe - Aug 01, 2013
In an earlier post, I commented on how Japanese children at the school where I worked were taught to pitch in with recycling. But I failed to mention a rather strange counterpoint, emblematic of that country's bewildering contradictions: One day a horrific smell wafted over the campus. I went outside to investigate, and discovered that a farmer in the lot adjacent to the school was burning an enormous pile of tires. The wind carried the vile, black smoke all over the school and the playing grounds. I asked a teacher about this and he shrugged. "There is no place to put them," he said.
I've since learned tires can of course be re-molded and re-treaded. But I had no idea how labor- and energy-intensive it was until I saw this video. Those of you who are into molding will enjoy seeing how the mold comes apart/together around 3:15. I also dug watching how they remove the flashing, and that inflatable thingy that serves as the mold's core:
The amount of man-hours that goes into each tire, not to mention the one-hour-plus molding time, is staggering. But what I found most surprising was that despite all of that energy burned, re-molding is still 30 to 60% cheaper than creating the tire from scratch.
Rain Noe
Rain Noe is a writer and industrial designer based in New York City.
2 Comments
-
That's why re-use is better than recycling if possible. That's what drove me to design ReTyre seating ( www.cmid.co.nz ) made from tyres with no processing to the tyre. That and disaster revival after the Christchurch Earthquakes (New Zealand).!Report as spam
-
Why surprised? New tyre production is tremendously energy consuming, it's the same process as you see here, only you have process the raw material and put a woven belt of steel in the middle of it. Re-moulds have had a terrible reputation in the past (rightly so) companies like Insa Turbo in Spain have revolutionised the technology . They are as safe as buying a new tyre now and much safer than part worns. This is the only bit of recycling I'm truly convinced by! Thanks, Mike!Report as spam
Continued Reading
-
By Christie Nicholson - Jul 31, 2013
Pollution-Killing Material: Smog-Eating Cement
Remember that crazy CO2 Scraper Concept? It called for a towering structure filled with trees, to scrub the surrounding air of carbon dioxide. Well, it turns out there's a very common manmade material that, with the right tweak, could serve a similar function and literally kill pollution. The material? Cement.Smog-eating...
-
By Rain Noe - Jul 31, 2013
An Introduction to Wood Species, Part 3: Oak
This Wood Species series comes to us from guest writer Rob Wilkey, an Atlanta-based woodworker and industrial designer whose expertise is in small home goods, furniture, and large installations.* * ...
-
By Rain Noe - Jul 29, 2013
Seven Olympians to Win Gold Medals Made with Meteorite Fragments
An Olympic gold medal is already a difficult, rare item to attain. And next year, winter Olympians will have an opportunity to win a gold medal that's even more rare. Come February, the seven finalists standing on the tallest part of the podium in Sochi, Russia will be awarded medals...
-
By Rain Noe - Jul 25, 2013
DIY Webbing Tutorial on a Budget, Part 5: Putting It All Together
In Part 1, we covered materials and hardware. In Part 2, we covered tools. In Part 3, we showed you how to set those tools up for webbing. In Part 4, you learned the crucial Box X stitch.Now it's time to put it all together and create your own projects. To demonstrate a...
K
{Welcome
Create a Core77 Account
Already have an account? Sign In
By creating a Core77 account you confirm that you accept the Terms of Use
K
Reset Password
Please enter your email and we will send an email to reset your password.