Waste not want not! Turn your old truck tyres into flip-flops; it wont cost you a thing!
Yesterday I read an article in the Guardian about an Ethiopian firm recycling tyres into shoes. It read; Old truck tyres never dies, they just turn into sandals. With all the credit crunch and thing, I think this is a wonderful idea. A lasting one but that was my grandfathers invention.
Back in the sixties when I was a child, my late grandfather did the same thing. He use to cut two pieces of tyre to the size of his feet, pierce three holes, one at the front of the flip-flops and two on either side. He would then insert two pieces of strings into the holes and there he went into the field for the day. We found it quite funny back then but whos laughing now?
The mastermind behind the wheel is a young female entrepreneur, Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu. Shes churning out thousands of pair of handmade flip-flops, boat shoes, loafers and trainers to foreign customers. It claims that all materials are locally sourced including the camouflage material cut from old army uniforms.
What about tyres from other vehicles such as cars and double-decker buses and my old worn out clothes from Primark? Will I get a reward if I ship them over to Ethiopia? Easier still, I could start up my own little car tyre recycling company and create unique shoes for those with feet fetish.
The truth of the matter is its a brilliant idea and its working but how long would it take a 38ton lorry to wear a tyre down to 2 millimetre thread? Im ten stone-ish and theres no way on this earth I could match the weight of a lorry.
Even though my grandfather past away in the nineties, I can still visualise him sharpening a knife to cut the tyre to the size of his feet. Today, Im trying not to forget that image and use my imagination but all I can think of is wearing flip-flops made from a heavy duty trucks army uniforms, would give me the experience journey of a lorry on the m6 and that of a war veteran.
0
No comments:
Post a Comment