Recycling inner tubes and tyres

laurence_cooley · Post by **laurence_cooley** » 03 Nov 2012 10:46

Does anyone know of anywhere in Birmingham that collects old inner tubes and tyres for recycling? I don't like throwing them in the bin but I've got a small collection accumulating and wondered if there was a local recycling service for them? Any ideas?

Dave Cox · Post by **Dave Cox** » 04 Nov 2012 20:30

No but I did see people at Bike Kitchen in Vienna stripping the wire out of clinchers to separate metal and rubber for recycling. Bit labour intensive and expensive on stanley knives or the Austrain equivalent but there must be a market.

laurence_cooley · Post by **laurence_cooley** » 04 Nov 2012 20:45

I asked the guys at Birmingham Bike Foundry via their Facebook page and they said they try to reuse them for other purposes, but that they already have too many. I guess if they don't recycle them, no one in Birmingham does.

George · Post by **George** » 04 Nov 2012 21:21

Old inner tubes are handy for various purposes, e.g. as customised rubber gaskets/anti-slip pads for brackets, frame protectors, jiggle-damping sleeves for metal things you carry in your saddle bag, etc, etc. They also have non-cycling applications. When I was a lot younger, I used to stretch one over the bath tap in order to fill my brewing bucket.

However, like the people Laurence consulted, I spoil far more inner tubes than I can re-use for any practical purpose, so most just go in the bin and thence to landfill.