Memphis Tire Recyclers win grant to increase capacity, recycle 150K additional scrap tires each year

What’s happening: When it comes to recycling scrap and illegally dumped tires, Memphis Tire Recyclers really is where the rubber meets the road (so to speak). A recently announced grant from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation will help the company increase scrap tire collection and recycling capacity both in Memphis and throughout West Tennessee.

What’s planned: The tire recycling company is set to install new equipment that will allow it to collect approximately 150,000 illegally dumped tires each year, and then process the recycled materials for porous pavement projects. The company also plans to create an Illegal Tire Dumping Mitigation Department to further bolster their efforts.

How they’re doing it: The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) recently announced that it was awarding the company a $987,827.50 grant as part of the state’s Tire Environmental Act Program. Memphis Tire Recyclers is matching the grant with their own funds, bringing the total invested in this latest project to $1,975,655.

Bona fides: It was earlier this summer when High Ground reported that the TDEC bestowed Memphis Tire Recyclers with a 2023 Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award, a recognition of the company’s 2022 investment in new equipment and facility upgrades that allows it to recycle approximately 420,000 scrap tires each year. Those tires are recycled and used as tire-derived fuel and tire-derived aggregate; the latest grant from TDEC will allow for further upgrades to collect and recycle 150,000 additional tires, and this time to be repurposed in porous pavement projects.

Why it’s important: “We are seeing great advances in repurposing tires for environmental benefits, and this grant for Memphis Tire Recyclers is a great example,” says TDEC Deputy Commissioner Greg Young. “Programs like this not only help clean up sites of used tires, they involve innovative new uses for them. We congratulate Memphis Tire Recyclers on this project.”