RE-TUBE: Team creates way to reclaim and re-purpose tyre tubes

Discover some of the great ideas that were pitched at the 2020 Surat Basin Student Designathon!

Team project: RE-TUBE

The problem

Tubes aren’t being recycled/ upcycled. Raw materials are exported overseas, refined and then sold back to Australia at a higher cost. 48 million tyres meet the end of their life, only 16% of these are domestically recycled. Two-thirds of tyres end up in landfill.

Solution

  • Rubber will be locally recycled into raw materials and sold to local businesses.

  • Sheets of rubber that are sold to businesses to be made into products.

  • Fewer tyres will be sent to landfill, instead will be upcycled into goods.

  • The rubber can be upcycled into wallets, tarps, ute canopies and fashion items.

The process

They source old/used tyres from local businesses and farms. The tyres are cut, washed, heat-treated and flattened into sheets. Refined materials are then sold back to the businesses.

“Extending the life of a material is fantastic for the environment and I would definitely buy this product”

- Troy Law, General Manager — Simplicity Australia

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