March 25, 2013 -- The City of Santa Monica is giving old tires new lives, recycling and reusing the rubber and preventing them from ending up in landfills or from being burned.

“The City of Santa Monica’s Resource Recovery & Recycling Division (RRR) has discovered an afterlife for tires,” staff said. “By recycling tires into crumb rubber, RRR has created a few innovative products for everyday use.”

The crumb rubber can be used for a variety of things. The City has used the material to build an extension of the boardwalk north of the Pier.

“As an extension to the existing wooden boardwalk,… 298 rubberized planks offer individuals with disabilities (ADA) access to the sea at high tide,” officials said.

The City has also used the material from about 2,500 tires for rubber bumpers, installed on enclosures for trash cans, “to alleviate damages to walls and doors when pushing and pulling trash, recycling and food waste bins to the trucks for collection.”

Another 440 tires were converted into rubber curb ramps to help trash collectors move bins.

“These rubber ramps are stored in the collection vehicles and are designed to fit snugly in the curb gutters,” officials said. “Staff pushing and pulling recycling trash and food waste bins can easily maneuver the very heavy dumpsters off of the curbs to the collection trucks.”

Trash collectors use ramps made of recycled rubber to help move bins (photo courtesy of the City of Santa Monica)

City officials said that the bumpers have even helped reduce injuries to employees.

The City's efforts, which are funded by a grant from California’s Resource Recycling and Recovery Department (CalRecycle) Tire Derived Product grant program, have resulted in about 5,000 rubber tires that would've otherwise ended up in dumps or burned being reused for other products.