Ok, I am not promoting this practice. I actually have serious problems with it. Anyway, I emailed my colleague who used to work at toxic epidemiology about this. I haven't gotten a response yet. So, I checked the US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). Well, I thought they protect the environment, so may be it's a place to look. So I queried "used tires and gardening". This shows up under Frequently Asked Questions about scrap tires. And there is a section on "10. What are some innovative ways tires can be recycled?" http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/tires/science.htm Imagine that. I hope that you can see the picture. This is actually under the section about benefits of recycling scrap tires. And under the picture, it says "Tire gardens can be a simple, cost-effective way to plant a garden in urban areas, and an environmentally-friendly way to turn a used tire into something productive again." I think it's some sort of lettus planted in there. Now, if the Environmental Protection Agency thinks it's ok... what does it mean? hmmmm. 15. What are the benefits of recycling scrap tires? Preferred management methods for municipal solid waste are waste prevention, followed by recycling, followed by incineration for energy recovery, and finally land disposal. For tires, retreading is a form of waste prevention and saves valuable resources. Recycling also conserves materials. For example, the use of ground rubber in products and in rubberized asphalt saves new resources from being used. In cases like these, recycling makes good economic sense. Tire gardens can be a simple, cost-effective way to plant a garden in urban areas, and an environmentally-friendly way to turn a used tire into something productive again.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. - Lao Tzu “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.” - Winston Churchill ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ --- On Tue, 2/17/09, Mike McGrath <[email protected]> wrote: From: Mike McGrath <[email protected]> Subject: [Community_garden] Rubber Tires as Raised Beds To: "Phillip Williams" <[email protected]>, [email protected] Date: Tuesday, February 17, 2009, 2:10 PM PS: if anyone is foolish enough (in my eyes) to do this, make sure the providers at least pay you the fee that they would have had to pay to dispose of them legally otherwise. (Here in PA, I believe its two bucks a tire.) Otherwise, you're being taken for TWO rides.... ---Mike McG ----- Original Message ----- From: "Phillip Williams" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 4:40 PM Subject: [Community_garden] Rubber Tires as Raised Beds > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Phillip Williams [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, February 17, 2009 4:37 PM > To: '[email protected]' > Subject: RE: Community_garden Digest, Vol 666, Issue 1 > > > > The following link has an authoritative and extensive discussion of the > use > of raised beds including the recycling of some types of old tires. (As > well > as other approaches. For what it's worth; there are literally hundreds of > missives on the internet proclaiming the value of this approach to small > raised beds. I spoke to my local Ag Extension Service Agent and he advised > that their studies showed no leaching of anything in anywhere near toxic > levels. If there's something wrong with using old tires there are a lot of > us in real trouble... > > http://www.noble.org/Ag/Horticulture/RaisedBedGardening/introduction4.html > > Best regards > > Phil > > Augusta, GA > > > > > > I came across some used tires which I am going to use as raised beds to > > plant edibles in our community garden. Given tires contact with toxic > > materials, is there anything I should do before filling these beds with > > compost and planting, or is it safe to stack the tires, fill with > > planting material, and plant. > > > > Thanks, > > > > Anna > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: > <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20090217/4ff12c5d/attachment.html> > _______________________________________________ > The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of > ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and > to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org > > To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: > http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org > > _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20090217/473885d9/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
