Tire Incentive Program
The Tire Incentive Program (TIP) provides a reimbursement incentive payment to eligible businesses that:
- Use recycled crumb rubber in eligible products or
- Substitute crumb rubber for virgin rubber, plastic, or other raw materials in products.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants include:
- Manufacturers that produce (or will produce) an eligible product.
- Waste tire processors that also manufacture an eligible product.
- Manufacturers of devulcanized crumb rubber.
- Rubber compounders.
- Manufacturers of calendered rubber sheeting products.
- Manufacturers that produce products on a contract basis for other companies,
- As long as they have that other company’s written permission to:
- Produce an eligible product and
- Receive the incentive.
- As long as they have that other company’s written permission to:
Eligible projects include:
- A new or existing product that has not benefited from the Tire-Derived Product Grant Program.
- An existing or new/improved product:
- Currently manufactured with virgin rubber, plastic or other material
- Which will be produced with a minimum of 5% crumb rubber, made from processed and shredded tires
- May be co-extruded, injected, calendered, or otherwise combined, also known as “feedstock conversion”.
- That includes compounded rubber and calendered sheet rubber as intermediate products.
- An existing or new/improved product:
- Currently manufactured with virgin rubber, plastic or other material
- Which will be produced with a minimum of 5% vulcanized crumb rubber
- May be co-extruded, injected, calendered or otherwise combined.
- That includes devulcanized crumb rubber as an intermediate product.
- An existing or new/improved product that will use fine (≤50) mesh crumb rubber.
- Particle size and particle size distribution:
- Are determined in accordance with American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D5644 and D5603 and
- Will be verified by CalRecycle or a CalRecycle contractor.
- Particle size and particle size distribution:
Funding
The minimum is $25,000, and the maximum is $500,000 per grant award.
Examples of Possible Eligible Products
Examples of possible eligible products include, but are not limited to:
- Devulcanized crumb rubber
- Flooring underlayment
- Rubberized flooring
- Industrial products
- Conveyer belts
- Calendered or compounded rubber
- Agricultural harvesting devices
- Various landscaping and garden products
- Various building products
- Various traffic devices such as:
- Traffic cones
- Delineators
- Spacers
- Tire stops
- Barricades
- Fencing
- Asphalt products that are not eligible under other CalRecycle programs
- Asphalt products, such as crack seal, roofing products, must contain a minimum of 5% crumb rubber in the binder or flux, not necessarily the finished product.
- Rubberized sidewalks, pathways, and tree wells specifically designed for stormwater management.
- Paints, sealants, and coatings
- End-of-life (EOL) material, such as crumb rubber, nuggets/mulch, being recycled or reused into a variety of eligible products.
- The source of the EOL material must be from California.
- Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) leveling and accessibility ramps, etc.
Specifically Excluded from This Program
Specifically excluded from this program would be:
- Crumb rubber used by itself as an intermediate product (such as infill for a synthetic turf field
- Except as noted in eligible products.
- Tire-derived aggregate
- Rubberized pavement or rubberized paving products, such as chip seal, slurry seal, etc.
- Except as noted in eligible products.
- Rubber nuggets/mulch/bark
- Except as noted in eligible products.
- Rubberized sidewalks and tree wells
- Except as noted in eligible products.
- Loose-fill or poured-in-place playgrounds
- The cushion layer for poured-in-place playgrounds, using ground, shredded or chunk rubber from California-generated passenger tires, not truck tires or buffings,
- Crumb rubber to replace ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) and thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV) in the wear layer
- Playground tiles
- Synthetic turf underlayment (not loose infill)
- Sports/running tracks
- All-weather sports field infill
- Similar types of products which have benefited from the Tire-Derived Product Grant Program and its predecessors.
Eligible Costs
Categories |
Products |
Incentive per Pound |
|
TDP |
An existing or new/improved TDP |
10 cents for crumb rubber or end-of-life material used in eligible products |
|
Feedstock conversion or devulcanized rubber |
An existing or new/improved product currently manufactured with virgin rubber, plastic or other material which will be produced with a minimum of 5% crumb rubber or devulcanized rubber |
40 cents for total crumb rubber used or devulcanized rubber sold |
|
Fine (<50) mesh |
An existing or new/improved product that will use fine (<50) mesh |
50 cents for total crumb rubber used |
- Incentive payments are paid quarterly:
- For the use of crumb rubber in sold (net of returns) eligible products
- Starting from the notice to proceed date
- Through the end of the grant term
- Inventory of crumb rubber on hand prior to the notice to proceed is eligible for incentive payment.
- Products receiving an incentive may not receive any other CalRecycle incentive or grant, including a Tire-Derived Product grant.
For more information about the Tire Incentive Program, contact tiregrants@calrecycle.ca.gov or (916) 341-6180.
Current Grant Cycle
Application materials for fiscal year (FY) 2023-24 were due August 15, 2023.
Upcoming Grant Cycles
Application materials for the fiscal year (FY) 2024-25 will tentatively be available Summer 2024.
Awarded Grant Cycles
How to Apply
Watch for the Notice of Funds Available (NOFA) on either of these two web pages:
Online Applications
CalRecycle grant applications are submitted online through the CalRecycle Grants Management System (GMS).
Listserv
Join the TIP Listserv to be notified by email for program updates and when funding becomes available.
For more information, contact tiregrants@calrecycle.ca.gov.