Grants to area towns encourage use of Recycled Automobile tires
By Brandy Nance
Friday, July 25, 2008
Nearly $700,000 in tire-recycling grants were distributed across Kansas by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, including several local towns and cities.
Mike Heideman, of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said in a press release this week that the KDHE Bureau of Waste Management has awarded grants to cities and school districts across the state to encourage waste tire recycling.
Grants went to the following area cities:
Cottonwood Falls: $24,300 to replace wood mulch with waste tire mulch under new equipment at Swope Park.
New Strawn: $34,206.70 to replace wood chips and sand with waste tire playground surface on playground at Jones Park.
Olpe: $33,811.84 to purchase recycled tire-plastic benches and waste tire playground surface for Olpe Jones Park.
Burlingame: $4,065 to purchase recycled tire-plastic accessible table and replace sand, gravel and dirt with waste tire mulch at playground at Sumner Park.
“Most of the grants will go toward partially funding the purchase of products that provide safe surfacing at playgrounds and for picnic tables and benches made from waste tires,” the press release stated.
KDHE granted 61 waste-tire-recycling grants ranging from $275 to $33,800 around the state. This is the second year of the grant program. The first several years of grants were given to Kansas tire processors to purchase equipment to process waste tires. Grants are funded from a 25-cent tax on the purchase of new tires.
For more information go to www.kdheks.gov/waste/.