Every weekday, we pick an image from the Torontoist Flickr Pool and feature it here on the site. It's our way to give the many excellent photographers in our pool the attention they deserve!
Sometimes another man's trash can be a photographer's treasure, as demonstrated in this shot by Flickr pool contributor inventor_77. These old tires piled up in a wall of rubber almost resemble a microscopic view of woven fabric, with the varying tread designs adding another level of interest (and we wonder what people were doing driving on tires that were in such poor shape).
Disposing of old tires is an environmental nightmare. It is estimated that 3 billion used tires sit above ground in North America with many more buried in landfill (10 million of which come from Ontario annually), but some are now being recycled into roofing tiles, rubber asphalt and recreational flooring.
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I think NY alone has like 5 million of `em lying around. The process they use to go from tire to ground up chunks of rubber is pretty cool though. Shredders, conveyor belts, magnets.They can even add color. One use that is neat is to use the small chunks of rubber as ground cover for playgrounds for those smooth or not-so-smooth landings off the slide.
They're also used for running tracks and those knobbly rubber decks for some of the splash pads around town. Tires have traditionally always been an issue. About 75% of a car is recycled, but that rubber ain't goin' anywhere, environmentally. I believe Ontario is responsible for 40% of our country's tire waste.