CalRecycle awards about $2M in grants to tire recycling initiatives

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

“California is proud to provide grant opportunities for businesses that invest in the sustainability of our communities and our planet,” says CalRecycle Director Scott Smithline. “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’s Tire Incentive Program reimburses California businesses based on sales of products that use rubber from recycled 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 following grant recipients will prevent the landfilling of about 1.8 million tires over the next two years:

• Bent Manufacturing Co., Huntington Beach, California, received $70,132 to develop traffic-device bases;

• Environmental Molding Concepts LLC, Moreno Valley, California, received $161,750 to develop tiles; 

• Herbert Malarkey Roofing Co. dba Malarkey Roofing Products, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, received $500,000 to develop roofing shingles; 

• Mission Rubber Co. LLC, Corona, California, received $128,000 to develop air-intake hoses;

• Three D Plastics Inc., Burbank, California, received $329,259 to develop traffic-device bases;

• TrafFix Devices Inc., San Clemente, California, received $500,000 to develop traffic-device bases; and

• U.S. Rubber Recycling Inc., Colton, California, received $500,000 to develop sports-floor surfacing.