Last week, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) announced $1.5 million in grants to businesses, schools and communities that submitted plans to collect, repurpose and recycle scrap tires. The grants, which require at least equal matching funds, range from $75,000 to $350,000 and will subsidize a variety of projects, as detailed in a press release from the ODNR Division or Recycling and Litter Prevention. Some of the proposed uses for the tires include playground and athletic track construction material, landscape mulch and pavers, parking lot paving material, and a fuel derived by mixing the tire scrap with petroleum coke.