From road to feet: How old tyres become sandals, shoes, furniture

A tyre can spend years on the road, carrying heavy loads through potholes, scorching asphalt and flooded streets. But when its useful life ends, it is often dumped and forgotten.

For a growing number of Nigerian makers, however, an old tyre is not simply waste. It is raw material waiting to be transformed into something new.

Why tyres are difficult to get rid of

Tyres are built to withstand extreme conditions, making them durable on the road but difficult to dispose of once they are worn out.

An estimated 1.5 billion tyres are discarded worldwide every year. Unlike food waste, they do not decompose easily, and unlike paper, they cannot simply be recycled through conventional processes.

Across many parts of Africa, old tyres end up in dumps or by the roadside, where they can remain for years.

Tyre sandals are older than the trend

Turning tyres into footwear is not a new idea.

A museum collection on African fashion notes that leather sandal-making has a very long history in Kenya and many other African countries. When cars arrived, makers simply adapted their skills to a new material: old car tyres.

So today’s tyre upcycling builds on a craft that has been around for generations.

Where the tyres come from

The raw material is often easy to find. 

One Nigerian furniture maker, Cyrus45 Factory, says it gets discarded tyres from refuse dumps, incinerators and roadsides. It also buys them from car owners who are swapping old tyres for new ones.

That means the “raw material” often starts out as something nobody wants.

ALSO READ: 6 signs your tyres are no longer safe to use

How an old tyre becomes a sandal

The thick tread on a worn tyre is tough and stiff, which is exactly what a sole needs.

The Bata Shoe Museum, which holds real tyre sandals from Zimbabwe in its collection, explains the logic behind the design. The sole is cut from the tyre’s tread, the thick, stiff part that once gripped the road, because that same stiffness protects the foot from the ground underneath.

The straps, on the other hand, come from the tyre’s sidewall. That part of the tyre is much softer and more flexible, which makes it far more comfortable against the skin.

The factory route: Shred, bind, mould

Not every tyre product is made by hand.

Nigerian company Freee Recycle Limited uses an industrial process in which discarded tyres are collected and shredded. The rubber granules are then mixed with binders and moulded into new products..

How one Nigerian company scaled tyre recycling 

Freee Recycle was founded in 2018 by Ifedolapo Runsewe.

According to a 2025 write-up, the company has recovered more than 600,000 tyres, with over 400,000 transformed into products such as paving bricks, floor tiles and flip-flops.

That is a significant step beyond making a few sandals in a workshop. It shows how tyre upcycling can move from individual craft to a more organised recycling business. 

From tyres on the road to furniture at home

Footwear is only one part of the story.

Nigerian makers also transform tyres into chairs, stools, tables and home décor. One of them, Retyredglam, says it produced more than 1,000 pieces between 2020 and 2023.

Its founder, Favour Oluma, said people initially doubted her, partly because she was a woman and partly because the idea was unfamiliar. She continued with the business despite those doubts.

Why tyre recycling once struggled to make money

Tyre waste is still a huge, largely unmanaged problem in Nigeria.

One industry estimate puts the number of tyres discarded every day in Nigeria at around 250,000, with less than 10 percent of them actually recycled. For a long time, there was little financial reason for that to change.

That is starting to shift. Nigeria’s 2025 National Solid Waste Management Framework now legally requires tyre manufacturers and importers to contribute toward recycling costs. Lagos State has gone further, offering a 15% subsidy on recycling equipment for registered operators, lowering the cost of actually starting a business like this.

Ghana’s recycled shoes offer another model 

Ghana provides another example of what can be done with discarded tyres.

The Eco-Shoes and Bags Initiative makes shoes from discarded car tyres and recycled cloth. The initiative says its shoes are made without glue, sealers or stitching.

The project also creates opportunities for artisans with disabilities. According to the UN climate body, more than 20,000 people have benefited from the initiative.

A fair question about safety

Tyre rubber contains chemicals added to make it tough. These include compounds called PAHs, and small amounts of metals such as zinc.

Most of the research looks at fine rubber crumb used on playgrounds and sports pitches. US government studies found exposure from those surfaces was generally low. 

A 2026 study in Poland found the finest granules carried more of these chemicals than larger pieces. A solid sole cut from a tyre is different from a fine crumb. 

A 2018 review said scientists still have no firm conclusions on everyday products made from recycled rubber. None of this means tyre products are unsafe. It means the research is still catching up, and it is fair to ask any maker how they clean and finish their products.

When something old becomes something useful

A tyre that once gripped the road can eventually end up under someone’s feet again, transformed into something completely different.

The principle behind tyre upcycling is simple: when an object finishes its first job, it does not necessarily have to become rubbish.

For Nigerian makers turning discarded tyres into footwear and furniture, what looks like waste can become the raw material for the next product.