The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has given out more than $2.9 million in grant money to 12 recipients to help develop new uses for old vehicle tires in the state.
According to the DEQ, the grants support Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s initiative to double the state’s residential recycling rate to 30 percent. The tire recycling grants fund three types of projects that provide for the reuse of old tires:
- road projects using rubber-modified asphalt in construction and repairs to improve existing Michigan roadways (Rubber-modified asphalt produces a pavement that lasts longer and provides for noise reduction and better skid control and visibility in rain and snow. Scrap tires used in these construction projects must come from Michigan sources.);
- research projects to find new and better ways to incorporate scrap tire rubber into asphalt and concrete, improving the material’s performance; and
- equipment projects to increase the use of scrap tires, find new ways to create commodities from scrap tires and increase existing product generation (Examples of existing products include floor tiles, footwear and rubber-compounded feedstock for injection and blow molding.).
Recipients for this cycle are:
- Bay County Road Commission, road grant, $433,704;
- Village of Birch Run, road grant, $109,952;
- city of Caro, road grant, $211,000;
- city of Clio, road grant, $93,566.50;
- Cobalt Holdings LLC, equipment gtant, $263,308;
- city of Flushing, road grant, $102,991;
- Ingham County Road Commission, road grant, $462,311;
- city of Lapeer, road grant, $203,000;
- Lapeer County Road Commission, road grant, $92,810;
- Michigan State University, research grant, $458,716;
- Michigan Technological University, research grant, $287,518; and
- city of St. Clair, road grant, $192,640.