California Awards Recycled Rubber Product Grants

Companies will transform rubber from more than 1.8 million scrap tires into new products

The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) awarded seven California companies $2.2 million in grant funding to transform 1.8 million recycled tires into beneficial new products like tiles, shingles, and traffic cones.

“CalRecycle’s Tire Incentive Program helps transform more of California’s waste into a resource for local businesses while supporting markets for recycled content products,” CalRecycle Director Scott Smithline said.

CalRecycle’s Tire Incentive Program reimburses California businesses based on sales of products that use rubber from recycled waste tires, creating financial incentives for manufacturers to competitively price and market their recycled-content products.

California manages more than 48 million waste tires each year. Based on sales projections, the latest grant recipients will prevent the landfilling of more than 21.4 million pounds of California-generated crumb rubber (roughly 1.8 million waste tires) over the next two years.

CalRecycle administers multiple tire-related grant programs to provide opportunities to divert waste tires from landfill disposal, prevent illegal tire dumping, and promote markets for recycled-content tire products. Programs are funded through a fee on new tires sold in California.

© Scrap Tire News, November 2019