(As part of America’s Recycle Day, MI Environment is highlighting Michigan’s recycling success stories.)
In 2015, the organizers of the Grand Rapids Art Prize Festival ran into a problem as they prepared for the city’s large pedestrian crowd. The 250 metal “tree surround” grates with raised edges were a tripping hazard.
Little did we know that when we turned to Western Michigan-based Porous Pave Inc. for a solution, they could solve multiple challenges. The perimeter of the company’s trees is not only flat, but incorporates recycled tire rubber, making it flexible, adaptable to all sizes, durable, easy to clean, eco-friendly, and of course It is porous and allows water to pass through without flowing. off. The city has saved thousands of dollars in cleanup by being able to sweep around the porous perimeter instead of picking up trash from a traditional metal grate, said Porous Pave’s vice president of sales and marketing. One Matt Lamb said. Based on this success, the city converted his remaining 650 tree perimeters to porous paving in 2016.
Workers installing a Porous Pave trail at Spring Meadows Country Club in Linden, Michigan (Photo Credit: Porous Pave)
While other companies also make popular products from waste tire rubber, Lam says Porous Pave is a popular choice for paving solutions such as boardwalks and trails, playgrounds, surrounding trees, golf course cart paths and bunker liners. We are one of the leading domestic suppliers. The company recently completed a golf course cart path project and pickleball court surrounds in Canadian Lakes, Michigan.
Over the past 16 years, Porous Pave has turned 18 million pounds of scrap tires purchased from refinishers from Pennsylvania to Florida to Washington to Hawaii into 5 million square feet of products.
In doing so, the company has become part of the 2022 Michigan Recycling Success Story. As of this year, the state’s major scrap tire processors (about 10 in all) are no longer sending regular scrap material to landfills. All but a small amount of material that is too dirty or contaminated is collected and sold to companies that manufacture consumer or industrial products or use the material in fuel for power generation. .
Kirsten Clemens, Scrap Tire Subsidy Specialist, Division of Materials Management, Michigan Department of the Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) said: “Eliminating tire crumbs from the waste stream as part of the MI Healthy Climate Plan is a milestone towards Michigan’s recycling rate of 45 percent, which is three times its rate by 2030. .”
EGLE’s Scrap Tire Program properly disposes of all scrap tires generated in Michigan, cleans up large piles of scrap tires, and provides funding for grants to expand scrap tire end uses and markets. Our mission is to Funding comes primarily from a $1.50 surcharge on all vehicle ownership in Michigan.
The Porous Pave is made from waste tire material that would otherwise be nasty waste and wouldn’t break down in a landfill, but that’s not the only selling point. Resilient and touted as excellent in areas with extreme freeze/thaw cycles, its porosity greatly reduces runoff that can cause flooding and carry pollutants into waterways At Dow Gardens in Midland, Porous Pave laid a half-mile trail through Whiting Forest in 2018. No need to dig and endanger tree roots.
All of Porous Pave’s products contain rubber made from scrap tires stripped of steel belts and chopped into “crumbs”. The Polar Pave XL Tree Surround is made from 50% tire rubber and his 50% stone aggregate, as well as a proprietary binder material.
When used for walkways, porous pavements are typically laid over crushed stone foundations, but can also be laid over existing concrete or asphalt. Stormwater flow will still decrease. The pavement is mixed on-site (Lamb said it has a consistency similar to the texture of a Rice Crispy treat mix), is applied at a thickness of one to two inches depending on the application, and cures in a day. Lamb said the resulting surface meets the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act and provides a low-impact, cushioned surface for walkers, runners, wheelers and cyclists.
