What's a Green Use for 215 Million Used Tires? Recycle Them into Footwear, Turf and... Sustainable Art?

Each year, over 215 million tires head for the great landfill in the sky - or more accurately, the great landfill in a very real part of the physical world. That's a lot of rubber sitting around doing nothing.

So what to do with all that waste rubber? Some companies, such as Timberland, have begun recycling it into footwear. Though making a boot out of a tire seems pretty straightforward, there are some more unusual uses for used tires, according to Car & Driver.

In addition to small-scale recyclers using them to make footwear such as sandals, cut up entirely from a used tire, large scale recyclers such as Liberty Tire Recycling are using ground up tires to make artificial turf for commercial, home and sporting purposes. For example, modern artificial turf on football fields uses a layer of rubber granules, known as an infill, to more accurately simulate the characteristics of real grass.

If you were so inclined, you can purchase a similar product, in a variety of colors, for your own landscaping needs for about $10 per cubic foot.

Likely the most unconventional use for used tires, at least as mentioned by Car & Driver, is its use as a material for artistic expression. South Korean artist Yong Ho Ji has created incredibly detailed sculptures from nothing more than waste rubber from used tires.