recycling old tires

Our yard has several spare tires hanging around, and in the spring cleaning we knew they had to go.  My husband's first idea was to chop them up, spray them red, and use them as yard bark.  When I didn't approve of that plan, we agreed to photograph them and post them on craigslist.com.  Who was willing to purchase old tires from our yard?  Or pick them up for free?  Nobody, apparently.  

My recycling friend directed me to contact Environmentally Conscious Recycling to find out where to recycle the tires and at what price.  This organization can help people recycle a variety of goods.  Most of our paper and metals are picked up by our curbside waste service, though we still have many materials that need to be recycling elsewhere.  We make a trip every few months to Far West Fibers to recycle plastics (separated into push-your-finger-through-it plastics, bottles with necks, and hard plastics) and a variety of other goods.  They even recycle shoes!  Styrofoam is recycled nearby (signs posted at Far West).  

In our spring cleaning, we've chosen to rid ourselves of most of our plastic kitchenware (with hidden BPA and pthalates).  I spent days (honestly, weeks...) debating where to send the tupperware.  Finally, we settled on passing it on to my mother's local homeless shelter's food kitchen for daily soups.  These containers will be sent out with daily soups and brought back for refills.  The other plastics, such as sippy cups, now reside on a shelf at the local Value Village.  As for the tires in our yard, they will soon be recycled and hitting the road as either new pavement or shoes.

* I chose not to post photos of our tires here, as there were no cute Michelin babies bouncing on them.

Update 10/2001: In the end, we simply dropped off eight used tires at a local tire store.  They will sell them at a discount to someone who can use them.