What happens when you get a flat or have skidded out your tire? Turns out, nothing good!
We use the term “waste” loosely at ReTyred, as we believe used rubber is an essential resource. One of the less popular “recycling” solutions for used vehicle tires is to turn them into TDA or Tire Derived Aggregate. This aggregate is a key component for producing Rubberized Asphalt, which, according to the US Tire Manufactures Association, is the best re-use application for this type of “waste”.
Unfortunately, The Illinois General Assembly’s Enviromental Protection ACT does not apply to the cycling industry, and with over 80 registered bicycle shops in Chicago, you can begin to imagine the amount of “waste” generated each and every season. Even more insulting, most states PAY for their waste tires to be transported to neighboring states for processing, thus adding fuel, labor, and road maintenance costs, not to mention, time, to the entire process.
Most tire “recycling” providers (such as industry leader Liberty Tire) create briquets from end of life tires, and sell them as TDF or Tire Derived Fuel. The energy generated from the incineration of TDF helps to fuel cement and lime kilns, paper mills, and some electric factories, but creates tons of harmful CO2 emissions in the process. EVEN MORE PROCESSORS participate in monofill operations, the practice of storing end of life tires in singular fills, similar to a landfill but only with end of life tires. Also, fills will bury tires in large underground caves, until technology catches up for “repurposing efforts”. Often times the excuese for the use of underground fills are to prevent the spread of diseases (insects like misquotes leave larva in standing water, which commonly captured in “waste” tires!).
ReTyred’s commitment to partner shops: We will sustainably divert, transport, and store your “waste”, while ensuring best “recycling” practices are used. Once we have filled our containers with 10,000 or more diverted tires, we coordinate with local EPA state certified tire processors for collection and the road to up-cycling begins!
By ensuring our partners “waste” rubber will be converted into TDA, or Tire Derived Aggregate, ReTyred corners an untapped market, helping to expedite the creation of this much needed component for the never ending road maintenance operations here in Illinois!
What about tires that still have useable tread or tubes that still hold air you ask? We got you! Our partnership with local non-profit Working Bikes helps to ensure the up-cycle of collected tubes and tires. Not only can we further eliminate “waste”, but we ensure a key resource is diverted and donated to the best suitable application! Just think, your “waste” can unlock critical service access for humans across the globe, and all it takes is to simply NOT THROW IT AWAY!
We all share this small, beautiful planet, and we owe it to each other to leave it better than we found it!
Reduce, Reuse, ReTyred
Board of Directors
David Christopher Lett
David Christopher Lett or DCL for short, is a Inflight Operations Supervisor for Alaskan Airlines, located in Portland (PDX). DCL keeps the teams running smoothly, safely, and with as little chaos as possible, no small feat at 35,000 feet. Known for listening more than he talks, DCL is the person who quietly absorbs the room, pinpoints the real issue, and always gets everyone moving safety and efficiently in the right direction.
He lived in Chicago from 2005 to 2017, where he became an avid cyclist and discovered that biking is not only great for the planet, but also a surprisingly effective way to outrun Midwestern weather. His passion for sustainable solutions and community‑driven governance makes ReTyred a perfect fit.
DCL brings a blend of steady leadership, thoughtful problem‑solving, and environmental enthusiasm to the board… along with a deep belief that even small changes (and old bike tires) can add up to something big!
Jake Tepperman
Jake is the founder and executive director of Chicago Food Rescue, where he leads efforts to deliver surplus food from food centric businesses to nonprofit community partners that serve people in need across the city. His commitment to food recovery began in Pittsburgh, where he volunteered and later worked with 412 Food Rescue during the pandemic before joining the Food Rescue Hero team to support partners nationwide.
Drawing on that experience, Jake created Chicago Food Rescue in 2023 to bring a scalable, volunteer-powered model of food rescue to Chicago and build a stronger, more sustainable local food system.
Jake loves to travel Chicago by bicycle and has some excellent volunteer assistance from members of this board, who deliver food via cargo bicycles, to humans all over the city. Talk about working in tandem to achieve the true definition of a circular economy!
Logan Laizure
Logan Laizure has a decade of experience in project management, aligned with nonprofit and community initiatives with the goal to strengthen local neighborhoods. His main focuses are food justice, harm reduction, and community resilience.
Working as a National Manager for Food Rescue Hero, a Founder of Zero Mile Cooperative, Director at Steel City Mutual Aid, and a volunteer wherever there is someone in need, he’s extremely passionate about ensuring our communities are engaged and thriving.
Ryan Lawber *Secretary
Don’t get him started… Ryan loves your bike and will gaze longingly in its direction whenever the opportunity arises. His interest in bicycles began in college, when he won a bike from the campus coffee shop. First, he rode it across campus, then across town, then to the next town over. Then across Iowa, because why not?
These days, Ryan prefers to ride any and all cargo bikes. Hearing the questioning phrase, “You’re not going to bike with that, right?” is an open invitation to a challenge. Moving anything by bike just feels good.
Ryan works as a Project Architect for Baker Barrios and lives car-free and carefree in Chicago with his wife and rescue pets.
Executive Director, Treasurer
Christopher Cabon Czambel
Czambel, as everyone calls him, has been involved with bicycles ever since moving to Chicago in 2005 to attend Columbia College Chicago. Be it biking to work in the service industry, biking to work in the cycling industry, or biking to rescue food for local not-for-profits, Czambel bikes! Due to his professional and personal love of cycling, and “don’t throw that out, let me make a few calls” mentality, creating ReTyred just made sense. After a sudden lay-off in 2025, Czambel chose to invest in himself, and carry out a passionate solution to an industry wide problem he is all too familiar with.
In the summer of 2025, just one month prior to launching operations, Czambel was hit by a car while ridding a Divvy bikeshare e-bike, and spent the next six months recovering from a broken leg. It was a wild blessing, which gave this first time non-for-profit owner, more time to research and grow ReTyred’s logistics. With his tibia almost fully healed, he looks forward to biking around Chicago on his orange cargo bike, diverting bicycle rubber “waste”, and rescuing food along the way!
retyred.org 