Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has awarded a $30,000 waste-tire recycling grant to Virtual Industries of Eden Prairie to help the company develop a sewer-access product made with recycled waste tires. According to the company's grant application, Virtual Industries plans to use the grant to design and develop a prototype mold for a "rubber manhole adjusting ring" made with tire-derived crumb rubber. The adjusting rings will provide support below a road surface for the sewer-access opening. According to Virtual Industries, the rubber adjusting rings will have several advantages over conventional materials, such as concrete, which include reducing or eliminating surface-water leakage, resisting salt corrosion, eliminating pavement settling around manholes, and ring flexibility under freeze/thaw conditions in Minnesota. The MPCA also awarded a $30,000 waste-tire recycling grant to American Rubber Recycling Centers of Brooklyn Park to help the company develop a highway guardrail-extension product made with recycled waste tires. According to the company's grant application, American Rubber Recycling Centers plans to use the MPCA grant to design and safety-test a guardrail off-set extension for use on roads and highways. The extension is essentially a rubber block made with waste-tire-derived rubber, molded and placed behind a metal guardrail for support and cushion if hit by a vehicle.