Amarildo Silva's Tire Pet Beds: Upcycling for Street Dogs

Archive feature, first published 2019-02-14.

Amarildo Silva Turns Discarded Tires Into Pet Beds

Amarildo Silva Filho is a young Brazilian maker who turns worn-out car tires into padded, brightly painted beds for dogs and cats. He picks the tires up from streets and parking lots or receives them as donations, cuts and scrubs them, paints each one by hand, sews a cushion to fit, and often adds the name of the animal who will sleep in it. By 2019, when he was 23, reports put his output at around 6,000 beds made for street animals, shelter animals and family pets.

The idea came from something he kept seeing on the street: stray dogs curling up on abandoned tires to stay warm and off the ground. The animals had already found a use for the rubbish. Amarildo simply set out to make that refuge clean, soft and comfortable. What started roughly two years before our 2019 feature as a way to earn some extra money from waste became his main work, run under the name Caominhas Pets.

From street waste to a workshop

Tires are easy to find because they are hard to get rid of. Here Amarildo stands beside a stack he has gathered, still dusty from the street. Collecting them is the first step, and it also clears a little rubbish from his neighborhood. Since childhood he has liked making things out of materials other people throw away.

Cutting a tire is the dirtiest and most dangerous part of the job. Wearing gloves and a face covering, Amarildo uses a power tool to remove part of the sidewall so a pet can step in easily. Car tires contain steel belts and bead wire, which is one reason a home attempt needs care: exposed metal must be trimmed and covered before any animal goes near it.

After cutting, each tire is washed thoroughly and painted. At this outdoor table he finishes the beds, with a sewing machine for the cushions close at hand. The fabric insert, sewn to the tire's inner shape, is what turns a rubber ring into something a dog actually wants to sleep on.

Color, names and personal touches

Finished beds come in pinks, blues, purples, teals and yellows, usually with polka-dot or paw-print fabric. Amarildo draws designs on the rubber, such as bones and paw prints, so no two are quite the same. Reports say some beds also get carrying straps, which make them easier to move between rooms.

A batch ready to leave the workshop. Each painted bone on the side carries a name, a small detail that makes a recycled object feel made for one particular animal. It is also what helped the beds spread on social media: owners love seeing their pet's name on a one-off piece.

The animals who sleep in them

Bela, a tan, short-coated dog, settles into a blue bed with a pink spotted cushion and a stuffed toy. The raised rim gives dogs something to rest their chin on, which many seem to enjoy. Because the tire is heavy, the bed also stays put on smooth tiled floors.

A white, spotted dog sits upright in a blue bed lined with black paw-print fabric, its name painted on the bone at the front. Bigger dogs need bigger tires, and truck or SUV tires give more room to stretch out. Sizing the tire to the animal matters as much as the decoration.

Part of Amarildo's work involves animals in rough shape. Here he and helpers bathe a thin dog with patchy fur, a common sight among strays with skin disease such as mange. Many of his beds went to street animals and shelters rather than to buyers.

A mother dog nurses a litter of newborn puppies in a pink tire bed. A raised, padded edge keeps tiny puppies close to their mother and off a cold floor, which is exactly what a whelping box is meant to do.

Branca, a white dog with a black patch over one eye, poses in a pink bed with her name across the front. Bright paint and fabric help a cheap, recycled item look like something people are happy to keep in the living room.

Meg, a black French Bulldog, peeks over the rim of her pink polka-dot bed. Small breeds fit well into standard car tires, and the snug sides suit dogs that like to curl up.

Why old tires are worth rescuing

Scrap tires are a stubborn waste problem everywhere. They do not biodegrade, and because a whole tire is mostly empty space, landfills dislike taking them. Large piles can catch fire and burn for weeks, releasing heavy smoke. Tires lying outdoors also collect rainwater, and that standing water becomes a breeding site for mosquitoes, including species that spread disease.

Industrial recycling does exist. Shredded tires end up as fuel in cement kilns, as crumb rubber in asphalt, playground surfaces and synthetic turf, or as fill in civil engineering projects. But those systems need collection networks and money. In neighborhoods where old tires are simply dumped, small-scale reuse like Amarildo's takes a few out of the gutter and gives them years of extra life. It will not solve the problem on its own, but it is a visible example of thinking about waste as material.

Thinking of making one? Safety tips

Tire beds have become a popular DIY project. If you want to try one, a few precautions keep it safe for your pet:

Handle the cutting carefully. Use proper tools, gloves and eye protection. Steel wires inside the tire can be exposed by cutting, so trim them back and cover the cut edge.
Clean thoroughly. Scrub off road grime and oil, rinse, and let the tire dry fully.
Choose pet-friendly paint. Water-based, low-odor paint is a sensible choice, and let it cure completely before use.
Add a removable, washable cushion. It keeps the bed hygienic and gives the animal soft support.
Drill drainage holes for outdoor beds so rainwater cannot pool and attract mosquitoes.
Watch chewers. Rubber is not meant to be eaten. If your dog likes to gnaw, supervise it or choose another bed. For older pets with joint problems, ask your vet what kind of bed suits them.

A small business with a bigger aim

Amarildo combined two things he cares about, animals and reusing forgotten objects, and built a livelihood from them. Coverage in 2019 described orders reaching him from pet owners abroad, and a later Brazilian report said he had started visiting schools and events to encourage others to try similar projects. He has said he hopes the work will help nudge his community toward a more sustainable way of living, and he quoted a familiar line about work, often attributed to Steve Jobs: "the only way to do a great job is to love what you do."

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Sources: My Modern Met: Compassionate Man Turns Old Tires into Cozy Beds for Stray Cats and Dogs; Tribuna de Jundiaí (in Portuguese): Jovem recicla pneus velhos e cria caminhas para cachorros de rua; Wikipedia: Tire recycling. Photographs: Amarildo Silva / Caominhas Pets.