Grants program aims to turn scrap tires into commodities to curb roadside dumping

A staff member said a grants program will award funds to cities and counties to recycle scrap tires into products such as mulch, roadway material and fuel, with the goal of reducing roadside dumping.

The staff member said the program is intended to create market demand for tire-derived materials so that "tires are no longer a waste, no longer a scrap, but, a commodity like a aluminum can," and therefore reduce littering along roadsides.

"So, the way the grants program works, what we do is we try to give grants and such to cities and counties for the recycling of tires. Tires," the staff member said. The speaker said processed tires can be sold to industry "for fuel to use such as in, to replace coal," mixed into asphalt for road building, or ground into mulch used on playgrounds and walking tracks.

The staff member described several end uses for processed tires: shredded tire material can be made into playground mulch to help prevent injuries, formed into surfaces for walking tracks, or processed finely and blended into asphalt for roadways. "So there's many different many different options and products that can be created from, waste tires," the staff member said.

The transcript did not specify the name of the grants program, the administering agency, the total or per-project funding, application timeline, or eligibility details. It also did not record any formal vote or directive during this segment.

Details such as which agency will administer the grants, how much funding will be available, program start dates, or reporting requirements were not specified in the recorded remarks.