The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) has announced a grant of $28,800 for the Bledsoe County Board of Education. The funding comes from the state’s Tire Environmental Act Program. The Bledsoe County Board of Education will provide $7,200 in matching funds to use the grant for installing rubber mulch as playground surfaces at all three elementary schools in the district. The total project cost is $36,000, aiming to provide a sustainable play surface that meets safety standards to protect school children.
“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 require 20 tons of rubber mulch, equivalent to approximately 2,500 scrap tires. Rubber mulch has a longer lifespan compared to wood mulch, which will help the schools significantly reduce the cost of restocking these surfaces annually.
The Tire Environmental Act Program aims to fund projects that find beneficial uses for waste tires. Eligible projects must fall into one of three categories: tire processing/recycling, tire-derived material use, or research and development. The program provides grants to local governments, non-profit organizations, higher education institutions, K-12 schools, and for-profit businesses.
Tennessee established the Tire Environmental Fund in 2015. A flat fee based on the number of a vehicle’s wheels is assessed upon the first retail sale of a new motor vehicle to be titled and registered in Tennessee. The collected fees go into the fund, which supports projects that create beneficial end uses for waste tires.
Since its inception in 2015, the program has awarded nearly $9.2 million in grants. Approximately 7.6 million tires, or nearly 82,000 tons of scrap tires, have been diverted from landfills. These tires are repurposed for various uses, including rubberized asphalt, tire-derived aggregate, tire-derived fuel, and other applications that prevent tires from ending up in landfills.
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Tims Ford State Park Trail Development Grant
Tims Ford State Park has received a $217,060 grant from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation’s Tire Environmental Act Program, supplemented by $54,265 in matching funds, to create ADA-compliant trails using recycled scrap tires as part of the state’s Access 2030 initiative.