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Report 3 (of 5): Tubular
Belles - The Netherlands
See also the previous rubber recycling programme, 'Inner Style, UK'.
Introduction
The bicycle is a familiar sight in The Netherlands. Nearly everyone has one, and some people even have two. With the flat landscape and more bicycles than residents, cycling is the traditional means of getting around and an ideal way to enjoy the countryside. Traffic congestion, lack of parking spaces, the high price of petrol and health and pollution factors, have made this form of transport the most popular by far. Yet, with an estimated 15 million bicycles, the prospect of disposing of all the used tyres and inner tubes is one that some people are turning to their advantage.
With around six million waste tyres generated each year in The Netherlands, the recycling and reuse of waste tyres and tubes is an important part of government policy. National recycling results in as much as 60 per cent of all tyre waste being reused or recycled. It is also illegal in The Netherlands to dispose of used tyres in landfill sites. This makes The Netherlands one of the best countries in the world in terms of rubber recovery. Recycling or reusing waste not only helps save the environment but it can also be a good money-spinner for those involved.
Making a business out of reusing rubber has proven to be a great success for two Dutch sisters, who are producing one-of-a-kind rubber fashion designs. Going by the name of Zuss Fashion Design (zus means sister in Dutch) and using bicycle and motor bike inner tubes, every design is guaranteed to be hand-crafted. There are no machines involved, just scissors, a hole punch and their imagination!
Rubber
Rubber is a familiar product in everyday life, used in car manufacturing, building, agriculture and clothing. The same qualities that makes rubber strong and bouncy also make it difficult to break down and recycle. Worldwide, 25 million tonnes of rubber tyres are discarded each year, often in landfill sites where it can take over 100 years for whole tyres to disintegrate. The tyres do not compact readily and flex back to the surface after a number of years, making the landfill unstable and costly and difficult to rehabilitate. Piled tyres may trap water, becoming breeding grounds for mosquitoes and bacteria, or they can present a fire hazard.
An alternative to discarding tyres in landfill is through reprocessing by transforming tyres into useful products. Generally the tyre is first converted into rubber shreds, chips, granules or powder. Products are then manufactured from this crumb rubber: anything from conveyor belts and recycling bins to floor mats and tennis courts. Due to the difficulty of breaking down the component elements of tyres and the technology needed, many people have begun to focus on instead reusing the rubber. This small-scale alternative enables many small businesses to make a profit and helps save the environment. Reuse is the most environmentally sound form of recovery because there are no chemical by-products and very little energy expenditure (use of fossil fuels, for example) is necessary.
Worldwide Recycling
All over the world, inner tubes and tyres from cars, motor bikes and bicycles are reused or reworked for secondary uses. In developing countries, these products are seen as valuable and provide income and employment for many people. The culture of reuse and recycling means that many countries do not have problems with rubber waste disposal and its potential environmental impact.
In South-east Asian countries part of an inner tube is used for crushing ice. Large pieces of ice are placed in the tube and a wooden plank is used to crush the ice for use in syrups, and for cold drinks and water. Car inner tubes are also used for storage. The tubes are cut in half, cleaned, dried, tied at each end and used to store food items such as maize, rice and wheat. This form of storage is free from pests and moisture. Tubes are similarly used for storing water. Another common and more global use for inflated inner tubes is as a swimming aid in pools, rivers and public baths, or for making rafts for recreational use.
Zuss Designs
Two sisters from Gelderland in the central region of The Netherlands, Krijnie and Christa de Leeuw van Weenen, have been producing handcrafted clothing from used inner tubes for over five years. Inner tubes are used in preference to tyre rubber because they are more pliable and easier to manipulate. Supply is not a problem and comes from two local shops, one which sells motor bikes and one which repairs bicycles. Production is very small scale and each month they collect the rubber and take it home by bicycle. Some pieces of clothing are so complex it can take many weeks to produce a finished article. Usually they have more than one design to work on, so if inspiration momentarily dries up for one piece, they leave it for a while and work on another design.
The sisters produce a wide range of clothing from bags, hats and dresses to coats, trousers and leg wear, and everything is hand-made and recycled apart from small accessories.
The Big Shirt
The Big Shirt is one of Zuss's oldest designs and is made from 100 per cent bicycle tube rubber. The shirt has a simple structure and like other designs it is made via a simple process:
- First the idea is formed and discussed, but a design is never drawn.
- The inner tubes are cut open and washed in the washing machine with a special rubber/latex detergent and hung out to dry.
- Rubber laces are cut, piece by piece, and holes punched into the rubber with a hole punch, mainly used in the leather industry.
- The garment is woven together by pulling the rubber laces through the holes.
- Beads or knots are used to stop the garment falling apart.
From raw material to final product...
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... the 'Big Shirt' on the catwalk.
Images © Christa and Krijnie de Leeuw van Weenen
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Throughout the process of making each rubber garment small changes are often made, and it is not unusual for the end product to be quite different from the original idea. For the two sisters, recycling has become a way of life. They consider themselves more than just business women, but artists, fashion designers and environmentalists. With the success of the Zuss designs, they are now looking to new materials for future inspiration.
Consumer Products
Zuss Fashion Design is just one example of how environmentally conscious people are making a living from reusing materials that would otherwise be difficult to dispose of. There are many like-minded people who are spreading the word about reusing waste to make consumer products.
Used Rubber USA
Used Rubber USA is a small company based in San Francisco that produces personal accessories made from truck inner tubes. Used Rubber USA products are designed to last as long as possible in order to keep rubber out of landfills. Products include wallets, cases, bags, backpacks and address books. Using the same process as Zuss fashions, they do not melt or process the rubber they work with, but simply wash the used inner tubes, cut them up, and rivet or sew them back together in more useful forms.
All products are made by hand and often bear the markings of the material's first life. Some bags have tread patterns from the tyre due to heat and pressure during their original use. Other bags may have text printed on them, or even tyre patches. This makes each bag different and unusual. In most cases the functional accessories produced have a second life much longer than their first.
Littlearth
Littlearth's brand of fashion accessories and gifts are created using sustainable design methods, including recycled material. The majority of Littlearth's materials, including truck tyre inner tubes, hubcaps, bike reflectors, licence plates, paper, and bottle caps are recycled. Last year alone, the company recycled more than 60 tonnes of rubber, 2 million bottle caps and 73,000 licence plates! The resulting products include belts, bags and keyrings.
Patagonia
Recycling other materials such as plastic is also proving popular. Many garments are made from Synchilla, a fabric woven from recycled soft drink or soda bottles, and Patagonia is particularly famous for its brand of fleece clothing. Traditional synthetic fleece is made from crude oil, an unsustainable fossil fuel that damages the environment, but Patagonia produces more than 150 Synchilla garments from 3,700 recycled 2-litre bottles. This saves a barrel of oil (42 gallons/ 190 litres) and avoids approximately half a tonne of toxic air emissions.
For further information, please contact:
Websites
www.tecweb.com/recycle/rwcont.htm
Recycling World Magazine
www.prc.org/guide/ca_acc.htm
Buyers' Guide to Recycled Products including plastic, rubber and textiles.
Books from ITDG Publishing
Hands On - Energy, Infrastructure and Recycling
Compiled by Emma Judge
£12.95, 2002, ITDG Publishing, ISBN: 1 85339 488 2
Books from WASTE Publications
Rubber Waste - Options for small-scale resource recovery
R. Ahmed, A. v.d. Klundert and I. Lardinois
€20, 1996, Urban Waste Series 3, TOOL/WASTE, ISBN: 9 07085 735 9
Rubber Waste documents recovery and recycling activities in cities in economically less developed countries. This publication describes how rubber waste is recovered in informal small-scale enterprises and turned into end-products ready for use by other small entrepreneurs and general customers. Attention is paid to the various technologies used in rubber recovery. Financial aspects, marketability of products, environmental problems and government policies are also dealt with.
This document is an output from a project funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Commission (EC) for the benefit of developing countries. The views expressed are not necessarily those of DFID or the EC.
Acknowledgements
ITDG would like to thank Christa and Krijnie de Leeuw van Weenen for their input into this paper.
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