Santa Monica Builds Boardwalk With Recycled Tires

Recycled tires are providing wheelchair users access to the sea.

With a state grant, the city's waste management division announced over the weekend that it has recycled more than 5,000 old tires into "crumb rubber," a ground cover commonly used on running tracks and athletic turf fields.

In Santa Monica, it was used to make 298 rubber planks that extend the existing wooden boardwalk north of the Santa Monica Pier, offering "individuals with disabilities access to the sea at high tide," Resource Recovery and Recycling Manager Kim Braun said in a press release. 

The old tires were also turned into dumpster bumpers—to minimize damage when workers are pulling the bins in and out for collection—and into small ramps so haulers can maneuver the dumpsters off curbs and on trash trucks. 

Each of the 5,000 tires were diverted from landfills and incinerators, Braun said.