TDA Projects Capture Grant Funds

First non-landfill use of TDA in California opens new opportunities

The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) recently recommended $646,371 for two Category 1 Lightweight Fill projects. These are the first non-landfill projects under the TDA (tire derived aggregate) program, the agency said.

The Butte County Association of Governments (BCAG) will use 1,100 tons –110,000 passenger tire equivalents (PTEs) — as lightweight fill for gravel replacement for a storm water bioretention trenching application. The trenches will be located in the landscape areas around the proposed building and parking lots and collect storm water runoff to keep it from discharging off the property.

The project, which will be located in Chico, California, was awarded $85,750 in grant money.

Napa County will use 7,350 tons (735,000 PTEs) as lightweight fill under a roadway for a landslide repair project on Mount Veeder Road,several miles southwest of Yountville. County officials said the $560,621 grant will allow engineers to target saturated and unstable soils under the road that are sliding down causing the roadway to fail and creating a dangerous driving condition. The use of TDA will result in an unsaturated and stable road with less earthwork than a conventional remediation alternative.

The TDA Grant program was allocated $1.7 million for 2014, but these two approved projects will use less than $650,000 leaving over $1 million for reallocation to other tire programs this spring.

CalRecycle’s Howard Levenson said that CalRecycle was at the “beginning of the curve on the product, much like the state was on rubberized asphalt concrete some fifteen years ago.”

CalRecycle is still trying to get the word out on TDA, its cost benefits and applications, he said.

© Scrap Tire News, April 2014