Old tires are not recycled in the Kanto area.
By Paul Richards
In the past couple of months I have had to replace 4 tires on my family’s fleet of bicycles. Where I lived in the U.S., old tires and inner tubes could be taken to a collection point once a month to be recycled. In a green mood and wishing to continue re-tiring in an eco-friendly manner I decided I would try to recycle our old tires. I asked around and nobody knew just what could be done with the old rubber. Nobody know and the pamphlet on waste disposal that I got from the city office didn’t say. While I was picking up a new tire at my local mom and pop bike shop to pick up a new tire I noticed a big bundle of inner tubes and nonchalantly asked what the shop did with their old rubber. He explained that he bundled them up periodically and threw them out with the non-combustible (moenai) garbage. This did not seem right to me so I rang up the Kodaira City Office to get the word straight from the horses mouth. They only confirmed that I was to bundle or cut them up and throw them out with the moenai gomi. Since I had a tire under my desk at work I also called up the Shinagawa Ward office to put them to the same question. There answer was much the same as Kodaira City. Cut it up into manageable pieces and throw it out with the moenai gomi.
Well this is all very disappointing. Tires and tubes are arguably the most un-green parts on your average bicycle and certainly the most frequently replaced. What to do? What to do? If I had any talent or any brilliant ideas for re-purposing cycling consumables I would certainly leap at the chance to extend the useful life of my old rubber. If anyone has any ideas on what to do with them please let me and other readers know by putting it into the comments of this post.
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Secret Cycling Society
By Paul Richards
What cycling needs is a good Secret Society. Because nothing spreads faster than a secret. Imagine it! The Brotherhood of the Bicycle. The Cycling Sisterhood. There could be clandestine meetings on moonlit hills. Sharing the cycling sacraments of energy drinks and nutrition bars....
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Bicycle Parking: A True Story
By Paul Richards
This post is not for people who live in Japan. Long-term Japan dwellers already know this stuff. I'm sorry. If you want to step out of the room for a bio break or to get a drink, now is a good time. If you want to spin along with us, that's okay too.
Much to do has been ...
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Mr. S.
December 10, 2010 - 10:00 amRecycling here is %$#@ed, though they make a big show of it, don’t they? Had this argument plenty with my, Japanese, wife. In Toronto there are three main streams: garbage, which is land-filled; paper, which is recycled; and plastics, glass and tins, which go in one bin and are mechanically separated and recycled. My wife is obsessed with the notion that Torontonians are too lazy to separate the last category. Never mind that by making it easier recycling compliance is very high!
And as for ‘burnable’ garbage: thanks for the PCBs in the atmosphere! Certainly fits in with the national if-you-can-pretend-its-not-there-you-don’t-have-to-take-responsibility psychosis. Not to mention in a nation of cyclists you’d think your bike shop would know what to do. Sigh. Been a bad week.