CalRecycle awards rubberized asphalt project grants

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (March 30, 2016) — The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) has awarded $5.28 million in grants to 43 California communities to use rubberized asphalt in road improvement projects.

The grants were awarded under CalRecycle's Rubberized Pavement Grant Program, which was first authorized by the California Legislature in 2002, according to CalRecycle.

Under the grant program, the maximum award for individual applicants is $250,000, according to CalRecycle.

In the 2015-2016 grant cycle, however, multiple jurisdictions were allowed for the first time to submit regional applications, for a maximum grant of $400,000, the agency said.

The largest single grant, and the only one over $250,000, was the $398,910 grant given to the City of Oceanside, Calif., according to the list provided by CalRecycle.

Receiving $250,000 grants were the cities of Antioch, Baldwin Park, Fontana, Ontario and San Jose, and the County of San Diego, CalRecycle said.

The agency has long promoted rubber-modified asphalt as a method of improving the state's road quality while simultaneously finding a high-value end-use for the state's scrap tires.

According to CalRecycle, rubberized asphalt offers:

• Cost-effectiveness because highway departments can use only half the thickness of rubberized pavement as traditional asphalt, as well as reduce their maintenance costs;

• Durability and noise reduction, with rubberized pavement lasting up to 50 percent longer than traditional materials; and

• Environmental friendliness, with a two-inch-thick rubberized pavement surface using some 2,000 waste tires per lane mile.

Thanks to CalRecycle's Rubberized Pavement Grant Program and other recycling projects, some 38 million of the approximately 44 million scrap tires generated in California every year are diverted from landfills into high-value end-uses, the agency said.

Those interested in applying for or learning more about CalRecycle's Rubberized Pavement Grant Program should subscribe to its listserv by clicking here.