CIWMB Awards Grant to Huffco

Huffco Inc., a Stockton, Calif., company that produces mats for home and sports use from recycled rubber, won a $250,000 state grant from the California Integrated Waste Management Board to help expand its operations.

By more than matching the California Integrated Waste Management Board grant, Huffco plans call for a $518,000 project to expand its capacity to produce sports flooring and rubber playground tiles.

"We're doing some of those on a limited basis, but this will allow us to get into a much higher-velocity production," said Dale Huff, president and chief executive of Huffco.

The project will include a new mixing system, loading and unloading equipment, automated conveyors, an automatic press and more.

From the Waste Management Board's perspective, the grant also will help ease the problem of disposing of 33 million waste tires produced by California motorists every year. It is part of nearly $2 million in grants announced last week.

Money for the grant comes from the California Tire Recycling Management Fund, supported by a $1 fee assessed on every new tire sold in the state.

Huffco takes in whole discarded tires and breaks them down into a variety of components used in a range of products.