The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) has announced a grant of $101,500 for Big Hill Pond State Park from the state’s Tire Environmental Act Program. Big Hill Pond State Park will provide matching funds of $26,500, bringing the total project cost to $128,000. The funds will be used to install a porous pavement trail and additional ADA parking, utilizing recycled scrap tires.
This initiative supports the Tennessee State Parks’ Access 2030 goal to become the most accessible park system in the nation. “The Tire Environmental Act Program provides ways to retrieve old tires and repurpose them into community assets,” said TDEC Deputy Commissioner Greg Young. “These grants help make that happen, and we look forward to the results that come from this process.”
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The project will feature a 0.4-mile trail that is 6 feet wide, recycling nearly 4,000 scrap tires. This new trail will offer a valuable outdoor recreational resource, enhancing the overall health and well-being of residents in McNairy and surrounding counties.
The Tire Environmental Act Program aims to fund projects that utilize waste tires in beneficial ways. Eligible projects fall into one of three categories: tire processing/recycling, tire-derived material use, or research and development. The program offers grant funding to various entities, including local governments, non-profit organizations, higher education institutions, K-12 schools, and for-profit businesses.
Established in 2015, the Tire Environmental Fund collects fees from the first retail sale of new motor vehicles titled and registered in Tennessee. These fees are then used to support projects that promote beneficial uses for waste tires. Since its inception, the program has awarded nearly $9.2 million in grants, diverting about 7.6 million tires, or nearly 82,000 tons of scrap tires, from landfills. The repurposed tires are utilized in various applications, such as rubberized asphalt, tire-derived aggregate, tire-derived fuel, and granulated rubber porous flexible pavement.
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Binghampton Development Corporation Receives $146,521 Grant
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) has awarded a $146,521 grant to the Binghampton Development Corporation to install bike lane barriers using recycled scrap tires in Memphis, with the organization providing $75,479 in matching funds for a total project cost of $222,000.