photo by: Kansas Department of Health and Environment

These benches at Eudora High School were funded using the Kansas Department of Health and Environment's waste tire product grant award in 2021. Eudora and Lawrence's parks and recreation departments were announced as grant recipients for this year on Tuesday, March 21, 2023.

Dozens of agencies in Kansas will receive grants to fund projects involving recycled tires, including the parks and recreation departments in Lawrence and Eudora, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment announced in a press release Tuesday.

Combined, the two departments will receive more than $20,000 of the $522,312 in waste tire product grants being awarded to local governments and schools throughout the state. The Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department will receive $19,713, and the Eudora Parks and Recreation Department will get $1,556. The grants are funded by revenue collected through the state’s tire excise tax, a 25-cent-per-tire fee on the sale of new tires.

According to KDHE, the grants are intended for projects using no less than 50% waste tire material by weight, unless they’re composed of other recycled materials. Examples of such projects include playground surfacing and picnic tables.

“These grants will help handle the costs of proper disposal of many (scrap tires) and assist many important local efforts to promote litter and waste reduction,” KDHE Secretary Janet Stanek said in the release. “KDHE applauds the creativity and innovation that our communities have in reusing materials that help support the mission of protecting the health and environment of all Kansans.”