Tire Recycling Firms Win Pitch Competition

Victors in a unique, Michigan-centric pitch competition that focuses on recycling, reuse, and renewable resource projects in Michigan have split $51,600 in prize money to help see their visions through.

NextCycle Michigan– an EGLE initiative to connect entrepreneurs, companies, organizations, and communities to tech support, financing, and capacity building to advance Michigan’s circular economy – hosted the Showcase competition at the Michigan Recycling Coalition’s Season of Innovation: Fall into Recycling event Oct. 6-7 in Troy, Michigan

NextCycle prepared teams from businesses and other organizations to pitch their project ideas at the competition, judged by entrepreneurs, investors, and industry leaders from Closed Loop Partners, the Michigan Economic Development Corp., Michigan Capital Network, United Way, Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice, Emmet County, EGLE, and PADNOS.

Among the winners, BSG Tire Recycling, Detroit, and Porous Pave, Grant, Michigan received the $10,000 Resource Recycling Systems Best in Show Award to turn scrap from tires into pathways and public areas in Detroit. The companies also split a $400 Shovel Ready People’s Choice Award.

The competitors were also among the recipients of more than $2 million in grants for 2022 from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE).

In those grant awards  BSG Tire Recycling received $133,000 to sustainably reuse scrap tires in Detroit to make products and low-maintenance, long-lasting paths, including a recreational pathway on a section of the 27.5-mile Joe Louis Greenway.

Porous Pave will serve as the contractor and install a recycled permeable pavement recreational pathway on a section of the Joe Louis Greenway using Porous Pave XL, a 50/50 blend of stone and recycled tire rubber.  The blend allows for flexibility from the rubber and durability from the stone chips and hard binder and is typically used in high traffic areas that require a durable paving material with superior permeability, capable of withstanding high traction, while still  providing a natural, beautiful surface.

© Scrap Tire News, November 2022