Used Tire Recycling Gallery | L.A., Landscaping, Playground Edition

This week we have put together another tire recycling gallery that includes some of the projects run by the City of Los Angeles as well as lawn and landscape products that are made from recycled tires.

The Los Angeles metropolitan area has a population of almost 13+ million people, and there are more than an estimated 6.5 million cars in use. This results in a lot of used tires, and the increasingly important question of what to do with all of them. There are several project demonstration sites where the city is using recycled rubber. In Obregon Park, they used recycled rubber as a sidewalk covering as shown in the photo directly below.

We can also turn used rubber into square panels and use them to replace damaged concrete on sidewalks. The best part: we can also temporarily remove these rubber pavers (unlike concrete sidewalks). As a result, this allows for better sidewalk maintenance, to a higher standard. This gives easy access to pruning tree roots beneath the rubber in order to prevent the roots from causing any unevenness of the sidewalk.

Used Tire Recycling Gallery: Recycled Products for the Yard, Garden, and Playground

Decorative mulch bed edging keeps the mulch off of the sidewalk and out of the grass.

Another creative way to use old rubber to spruce up your yard is to place it below your fence line. This pesky area is an annoyance to anyone who has mowed their lawn near a fence line before. Save yourself from the trimming and weed-whacking by installing this brown-colored rubber strip below the fence.

Many of the people who read our recycling blogs probably do so while asking the question: How can I recycle rubber? The solutions above weren't found by simply trying to recycle a product after its life cycle is over. People created these products, first and foremost, for safety reasons.

Many play areas are now incorporating multiple types of rubber products. This is because of the increased safety for children, as well as the bright and interesting aesthetics. Such playgrounds have a rubber playing surface, artificial grass, and padding that is located below the surfaces. They provide additional padding for the children.