Tire Wrap

Long description

If we could shape the future city of Amsterdam,  we would design out waste and stimulate biodiversity.  In a perfect world these two go hand in hand.

There are 881 000 bikes riding around in Amsterdam. Although biking is a very efficient and sustainable way to move around the city, it also causes an enormous amount of worn out tires. In the current system there is no separate collection of tires, so all rubber ends up with residual waste in landfills or incinerators. Such a waste of a scarce resource.

Speaking of a scarce resource, trees! We need more of them. The ambition in the Netherlands is to plant 2 million trees every year. And in the first three years these trees need some support to survive. This support is often created by a wooden pole with a virgin rubber or nylon band around it. These bands are being cut to the right size and disposed of after use.

And that’s where we found a perfect match! The worn tires do not have the capabilities for the puncture proof support of a cyclist, but are strong enough for the support of a young tree. With a few small adjustments that can be done in a local workshop we can turn the discarded bicycle tires into easy-to-use tree bands. The standardized size of the Tire Wraps allows them to be reused.

A win-win situation where we reduce the use of new bands by repurposing bicycle tires!

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