Why recycle tyres?
Recycling tyres is a great way to keep your garden green, and the skies blue, and add some cash to your wallet. Along with being an environmentally friendly way to make something old and new again, selling recycled tyres – or the multitude of products that can be made from them – is a straightforward and easy way to start your own business.
Recycled tyres are widely available, and there are an endless number of quick and easy creations you can make from them. Here are a few of the many ways you can turn old tyres into new money, plus some tips on sourcing used tyres.
Sell tyres as crowd-control barriers
Whether or not you should buy used tyres in terms of your daily driving needs is a question that requires careful consideration, but when it comes to using them for other purposes, their roadworthiness is a non-issue.
A number of public events use recycled tyres as barriers for crowd control. This is an excellent way to sell or rent out large numbers of tyres at once. Market your services to potential clients and offer to provide tyres at an affordable rate. This can earn you some great income now – and if it happens to be an annual event, some additional income down the road, as the event takes place year after year.
Turn tyres into art
There are endless ways you can turn tyres into art. From retaining their original shapes to heavily modifying them – such as cutting down the tyres and using them in sculptures in completely different and unrecognisable forms – tyres can add a brilliant combination of industrial style and modern flair to your artistic creations. It can also be extremely economical for artists who enjoy working with these materials – used tyres are widely available, and very affordable.
Sell spares at track meets
Few people who head out to a track day or amateur racing event anticipate a tyre blowout. Yet, what happens if someone has driven to the racetrack, and then blows out a tyre while racing around the track? You can be a lifesaver to these racers, provided you’ve got some sets in good condition to sell.
What’s more, you don’t need to wait around for a driver to have a blowout; simply set up and sell the tyres as spares outside the track. While you should definitely make clear to your buyers that the tyres are best used as replacements for the drive home – and not as actual racing tyres – the spares you sell could be the difference between someone driving home as normal, or facing a hefty towing bill after a blowout.
Just be sure to read up on tyre sidewall lettering beforehand to ensure you’re selling the right fit.
Sell tyres to university fashion houses
Beyond individual artists, art and fashion schools are always on the lookout for unique materials. With tyres being a symbol of both the industrial age and of the debate surrounding environmentally-friendly cars, selling secondhand tyres to university or design centres can net you a tidy sum by supplying a whole year’s worth of students with the materials for their course.
In the event that you’re unable to find a use for a particular set of tyres – perhaps the rubber is cracked or the colour has faded too much for your purposes – keep an eye out for local competitions that are using tyres as a base for their art installations. By donating the goods today, you can be listed as a sponsor and gain some new customers for your business tomorrow.
Create and sell comfortable tyre swings
We all remember those really uncomfortable tyre swings from when we were kids. Now, it’s easy to create a bespoke tyre swing that’s comfortable and long-lasting. Choose a smooth and hole-proof tyre, then use some covered rope and add a few pillows inside the base of the tyre. This will allow absolute comfort, and make your tyre swings standouts.
Tyre swings are surely at their best hanging on a tree in the open breeze, but with Australians now having largest houses in the world by square metre – with an average size of 245 square metres – a growing number of families are looking for indoor fun and playground equipment for their kids. This opens up a whole new market of buyers to sell to. So those new neighbours who just moved into that big house next door? Offer to sell them an indoor tyre swing, and become their new best friend.
Turn tyres into pet beds
Turning tyres into pet beds offers you the opportunity to sell a customised fit that a pet store just can’t offer. True, fitting a Great Dane into a regular car tyre may prove to be a challenge, but that’s the great advantage of making pet beds from tyres – you can source whatever size of tyre you need for the best fit, and customise each pet bed to the dog’s size. That Great Dane bed? An 18-wheeler tyre or two would definitely do the job.
Rent a stall at your local market or pet show, and once you know the size of the dog the bed is for, simply fill up the tyre with the number of pillows that will make for the best fit and provide the best insulation. This will provide a customised and very unique niche product for your business.
Sourcing used tyres
If you’re looking to sell used tyres for road use, obtaining ones in good condition is essential – and you may have to pay a little more for those. But for some of the other uses mentioned above, roadworthiness is not important, and you may find that those types of tyres are ones that you can source for a very low fee, or even for free.
Keep an eye out in your neighbourhood when council collections occur, since people will often clear out their garages and throw out used tyres. You could also visit secondhand car parts yards and strip the tyres off old cars, which you can then buy at a low cost.
If you’d prefer to get your hands on a big supply of secondhand tyres for a larger business venture, get in touch with your local Tyreright to discuss an order. The number of possibilities for reusing and selling old tyres is limited only by your imagination.
Our team of tyre experts are always available to you for help at any one of our stores. Take advantage of our free tyre health check while you are there!