Innovative and Creative Gardening Techniques Using Worn and Discarded Tyres
Antony Santiago
In recent years there have been opposing reports about ecocycling and recycling of worn and discarded pneumatic rubber tyres. in our local news papers
In the years 1985-86 the writer reported about his findings on ecocycling tyres by cutting them by a simple process of using a kitchen knife dipped in water to serve as a lubricant to produce tyre pans, tyre baskets and tyre rings for assembling them into containers for composting soil, with garden and kitchen wastes and in growing many kinds of garden plants including vegetables in them in the column entitled “Green Acres” in the New Straits Times, a leading newspaper in English.
In 2007 there was a one page advertisement on recycling rubber tyres (New Straits Times dated July 10, 2007) which carried the message that an estimated one billion tyres around the world per year had nowhere to go. The advertisement also says that seven billion discarded rubber tyres are at present available for recycling by a patented process of delinking the chemical bonds that raw latex undergoes in the tyre manufacturing process.
The same advertisement was repeated in the Readers Digest of August 2008. page T19 with a title Towards a Greener Malaysia.
The chemicals used in the process are not mentioned but there is a rumor that the chemicals used are water soluble and will damage aquatic life. This could be the reason why developed nations are not setting up factories for recycling tyres even though they produce the greatest number of discarded tyres and can use the science and technology of delinking to do the same recycling process as proposed.in the advertisement
A one page advertisement in the New Straits Times dated July 10, 2007 described how a local company had patented a process of delinking the chemical bonds that raw latex can reduce the need to plant more and more rubber plantations that pressure ecosystems undergoes in the tyre manufacturing process.
The tyres could then be broken down for remanufacture.The same advertisement is presented on page T19 of the August issue of Reader’s Digest 2008 with a comment on page T18 that the delinking process of rubber tyres
The chemicals used in the process were not mentioned but because these chemicals used were water soluble and would damage aquatic life. This could be the reason why developed nations are not wanting to set up factories for recycling tyres even though those countries produce the greatest number of discarded tyres.
Another news item in the New Straits Times dated December 13, 2007 reported that a German engineering company by the name of Intec Micro Powder AG had concluded a memorandum of understanding with a newly formed company called Intec Malaysia Sdn Bhd to recycle tyres. Intec Micro develops and designs special machinery and equipment in the field of industrial tyre recycling. The company uses a deep cooling technique to cool the tyres to -195.8 oC which makes the vulcanized rubber brittle causing it to be pulverized more easily to generate rubber powder which is then used to manufacture tyres. In the process the metals used in the tyres are salvaged.
This cooling method would require intensive use of electricity and would require additional inputs of energy which puts a strain on energy resources.
These two examples make the point that recycling may not necessarily be environmentally friendly or energy efficient.
Ecocyling as an alternative to recycling is proposed to take care of the problem of the growing mounds, hills and mountains of discarded tyres (estimated to be one billion tyres around the world annually) to be ecocycled using environmentally friendly and energy efficient methods. These methods harness the natural properties of tyres and in fact exploit its inherent qualities. This is to be preferred to recycling them using environmentally harmful means which could potentially pollute the waterways or recycling using energy hungry methods.
The suggestion is to use discarded tyres that are cut and assembled before using them as improvised containers for growing garden plants and ecocycling wastes. The cut parts can also be used to make plant holders. In the years 1985-86 the writer reported in the column entitled “Green Acres” in the “New Straits Times” the methods employed to make discarded tyres useful. The tyres were cut using a simple process of using a kitchen knife dipped in water to serve as a lubricant to produce tyre pans, tyre baskets, and tyre rings for assembling into improvised containers.
A tyre pan is used as a base and tyre rings and tyre baskets are stacked one on top of the other and filled with turfed soil,.garden and kitchen wastes to form a sturdy columnar structure to sit comfortably without being easily toppled over. The tyre column of composting soil acts as a good conductor of heat drawing heat away from the soil and enabling excess water from heavy rains to fall out from the gaps between each successive tyre in the stack. Plants that were grown in them grew well using this method and included vegetables, ornamental and herbaceous plants, shrubs, climbers and small trees such as papayas, tapioca and small ornamental palms.
In the case of composting, the stack of tyres can be made higher or lower depending on the level of compost and is an effective enclosure for the decaying matter inside.
Yet another method of ecocycling worn and discarded rubber tyres has been recently reported in The Edge dated January 5, 2009 under the City and Country column. According to the report one Mr Lincoln Lee. the Executive Director of Lucas Works Sdn. Bhd, discovered how to use discarded tyres to make foundations for buildings and pavements. He finds these to have a cooling effect of the homes he has built. In addition he has used tyres to also build retaining walls and fish ponds.
Today after more than 30 years experience of growing plants in tyres the writer is confident that the ecocycling of tyres by filling them with soil or by growing plants in them has a great future in improving the ecology of our planet and would like to promote it as a garden culture of modern civilization. There are many other possibilities to conduct experiments on the use of cut parts of worn and discarded tyres which include road barriers and dividers filled with ornamental plants and the like, terracing hill slopes, building dams across valleys to promote aquatic life and other such activities.
It is hoped that the setting up of an ecocyling garden will encourage researchers in gardening and landscaping around the world to experiment and implement successful applications of using worn and discarded tyres for useful purposes. The problem of the mounting number of discarded pneumatic tyres which in the humid tropics holds rain water and provides breeding grounds for a wide range of species of disease carrying mosquitoes would be eliminated.
These ecocycling methods would be a blessing for the well being of the environment and the tyre industry as a whole as well as promoting ecocycling industries.
In conclusion, we the public, should encourage the development of new tyre cutting methods on a commercial and industrial scale to produce a variety of tyre parts for a variety of uses to improve our natural environment and produce cultured landscapes and garden environments for all of us to enjoy for the present and the future.
ooOoo
Antony Santiago
In recent years there have been opposing reports about ecocycling and recycling of worn and discarded pneumatic rubber tyres. in our local news papers
In the years 1985-86 the writer reported about his findings on ecocycling tyres by cutting them by a simple process of using a kitchen knife dipped in water to serve as a lubricant to produce tyre pans, tyre baskets and tyre rings for assembling them into containers for composting soil, with garden and kitchen wastes and in growing many kinds of garden plants including vegetables in them in the column entitled “Green Acres” in the New Straits Times, a leading newspaper in English.
In 2007 there was a one page advertisement on recycling rubber tyres (New Straits Times dated July 10, 2007) which carried the message that an estimated one billion tyres around the world per year had nowhere to go. The advertisement also says that seven billion discarded rubber tyres are at present available for recycling by a patented process of delinking the chemical bonds that raw latex undergoes in the tyre manufacturing process.
The same advertisement was repeated in the Readers Digest of August 2008. page T19 with a title Towards a Greener Malaysia.
The chemicals used in the process are not mentioned but there is a rumor that the chemicals used are water soluble and will damage aquatic life. This could be the reason why developed nations are not setting up factories for recycling tyres even though they produce the greatest number of discarded tyres and can use the science and technology of delinking to do the same recycling process as proposed.in the advertisement
A one page advertisement in the New Straits Times dated July 10, 2007 described how a local company had patented a process of delinking the chemical bonds that raw latex can reduce the need to plant more and more rubber plantations that pressure ecosystems undergoes in the tyre manufacturing process.
The tyres could then be broken down for remanufacture.The same advertisement is presented on page T19 of the August issue of Reader’s Digest 2008 with a comment on page T18 that the delinking process of rubber tyres
The chemicals used in the process were not mentioned but because these chemicals used were water soluble and would damage aquatic life. This could be the reason why developed nations are not wanting to set up factories for recycling tyres even though those countries produce the greatest number of discarded tyres.
Another news item in the New Straits Times dated December 13, 2007 reported that a German engineering company by the name of Intec Micro Powder AG had concluded a memorandum of understanding with a newly formed company called Intec Malaysia Sdn Bhd to recycle tyres. Intec Micro develops and designs special machinery and equipment in the field of industrial tyre recycling. The company uses a deep cooling technique to cool the tyres to -195.8 oC which makes the vulcanized rubber brittle causing it to be pulverized more easily to generate rubber powder which is then used to manufacture tyres. In the process the metals used in the tyres are salvaged.
This cooling method would require intensive use of electricity and would require additional inputs of energy which puts a strain on energy resources.
These two examples make the point that recycling may not necessarily be environmentally friendly or energy efficient.
Ecocyling as an alternative to recycling is proposed to take care of the problem of the growing mounds, hills and mountains of discarded tyres (estimated to be one billion tyres around the world annually) to be ecocycled using environmentally friendly and energy efficient methods. These methods harness the natural properties of tyres and in fact exploit its inherent qualities. This is to be preferred to recycling them using environmentally harmful means which could potentially pollute the waterways or recycling using energy hungry methods.
The suggestion is to use discarded tyres that are cut and assembled before using them as improvised containers for growing garden plants and ecocycling wastes. The cut parts can also be used to make plant holders. In the years 1985-86 the writer reported in the column entitled “Green Acres” in the “New Straits Times” the methods employed to make discarded tyres useful. The tyres were cut using a simple process of using a kitchen knife dipped in water to serve as a lubricant to produce tyre pans, tyre baskets, and tyre rings for assembling into improvised containers.
A tyre pan is used as a base and tyre rings and tyre baskets are stacked one on top of the other and filled with turfed soil,.garden and kitchen wastes to form a sturdy columnar structure to sit comfortably without being easily toppled over. The tyre column of composting soil acts as a good conductor of heat drawing heat away from the soil and enabling excess water from heavy rains to fall out from the gaps between each successive tyre in the stack. Plants that were grown in them grew well using this method and included vegetables, ornamental and herbaceous plants, shrubs, climbers and small trees such as papayas, tapioca and small ornamental palms.
In the case of composting, the stack of tyres can be made higher or lower depending on the level of compost and is an effective enclosure for the decaying matter inside.
Yet another method of ecocycling worn and discarded rubber tyres has been recently reported in The Edge dated January 5, 2009 under the City and Country column. According to the report one Mr Lincoln Lee. the Executive Director of Lucas Works Sdn. Bhd, discovered how to use discarded tyres to make foundations for buildings and pavements. He finds these to have a cooling effect of the homes he has built. In addition he has used tyres to also build retaining walls and fish ponds.
Today after more than 30 years experience of growing plants in tyres the writer is confident that the ecocycling of tyres by filling them with soil or by growing plants in them has a great future in improving the ecology of our planet and would like to promote it as a garden culture of modern civilization. There are many other possibilities to conduct experiments on the use of cut parts of worn and discarded tyres which include road barriers and dividers filled with ornamental plants and the like, terracing hill slopes, building dams across valleys to promote aquatic life and other such activities.
It is hoped that the setting up of an ecocyling garden will encourage researchers in gardening and landscaping around the world to experiment and implement successful applications of using worn and discarded tyres for useful purposes. The problem of the mounting number of discarded pneumatic tyres which in the humid tropics holds rain water and provides breeding grounds for a wide range of species of disease carrying mosquitoes would be eliminated.
These ecocycling methods would be a blessing for the well being of the environment and the tyre industry as a whole as well as promoting ecocycling industries.
In conclusion, we the public, should encourage the development of new tyre cutting methods on a commercial and industrial scale to produce a variety of tyre parts for a variety of uses to improve our natural environment and produce cultured landscapes and garden environments for all of us to enjoy for the present and the future.
ooOoo
The writer is a researcher in plant science, plant breeding, plant ecology and agriculture and completed his Ph.D. studies in plant ecology at the University of Singapore in 1974 and is currently carrying out experiments around his home in Petaling Jaya. Those who wish to see the method of growing plants in improvised containers of worn and discarded tyres may visit his garden at 32 jalan 14/56 Petaling Jaya 46100 at any time and for a discussion after a personal appointment made by phone at 03=79574723. You are welcome.to copy and improve on or refute the method. This is the beauty of science and its innovations.
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