A warning for anyone who uses old car tyres to plant veg in . . . DON’T !
I never knew until I saw this in my gardening magazine this morning, that it can be dangerous, and here is why.
" It was discovered that old tyres are damaging the environment, especially when used for growing plants within them.
Watering and weathering biodegrades the rubber, which then releases toxic zinc and carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons into the soil that are absorbed by plants.
If you are growing potatoes or other vegetables within a circle of tyres, they are liable to ingest toxins that would be injurious to health."
This is a really good point! I have seen so many people grow things (both flowers and veggies) inside tyres - some were painted as well. It hasn’t really appealed to me as a growing tool, purely because its a tyre and I did wonder if it was safe. Some look really pretty though and I can see why many folk would think they were doing a good recycling effort.
There was a family on grand designs who moved to France and built the main structure out of tyres stuffed with soil or sand I think. Maybe that’s a good use for them as their ugly old things anyway and I’d never consider grooming anything in them yet alone foodstuff.
As an ex-tyre guy of many years standing, I agree wholeheartedly with this statement. Don’t use tyres as planters for anything!
The zinc comes from the zinc oxide (ZnO) which is necessary to start the chemical reactions necessary to cure the rubber compounds. The polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons come from all the aromatic oil that’s added to the tread and sidewall compounds to modify their physical properties. I thought that PCAHs had been banned a few years ago and had been replaced by naphthenic oils, which are very much less toxic. There is little hope of ever totally removing ZnO however because, for every 100 parts of rubber polymer used, you need, on average, about 2.5 parts of ZnO for the chemical reactions.
When I was working in Rome, removal of ZnO was a major research project for us rubber compound developers for all tyre classes because of a change in Swedish anti-pollution laws. AFAIR, the project as a whole was abandoned because there was no suitable cost-effective alternative. All we did achieve was to slightly reduce the amount used in tread and sidewall compounds.
the tyres were the structure but I think they covered them with daub or something. Really don’t know how old it is but maybe if there protected from the sun then degradation migh slow things down
Bit out of my budget, mind you, but it ticks all the boxes for me! 