Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet
Gov. Beshear announces Florence crumb rubber grant

FLORENCE, Ky. (April 23, 2008) – Gov. Steve Beshear today presented a check for $30,450 to the city of Florence for a crumb rubber project at a park.

The city will apply crumb rubber to the playground at the Lincoln Woods Park in Florence through a grant administered by the state.

The Florence grant was among 43 grants totaling almost $1 million awarded recently from the Waste Tire Trust Fund managed by the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet’s Division of Waste Management.

Beshear said the crumb rubber grant promotes the use of recycled materials at an active park in one of the fastest growing cities in the state.

“Lincoln Woods Park has athletic fields, tennis courts, basketball courts, shelters and trails,” Gov. Beshear said. “All of these features attract families to the park, and the playground receives the majority of participants. This project will not only help the playground, but will also help our environment by using recycled crumb rubber material for these areas.”

The fund was established by the 1998 Kentucky General Assembly to receive a $1 fee from each sale of a new tire in the state. The money is used to manage the 5 million scrap tires generated in Kentucky each year and to develop markets for recycled tire products.

Crumb rubber, made from recycled scrap tires, is used for mulch on playgrounds, for fitness/walking tracks, landscaping and for reduction in soil degradation on athletic fields.

Grants this year are going to projects involving playgrounds, athletic fields, fitness/walking tracks, a gym floor and horse stall matting--a University of Kentucky Research Foundation project at the Kentucky Horse Park.