No Cash for Trash. People are sick of Toxic Turf and Tire Waste.

Director Mortensen:

CalRecycle's Tire Derived Product Incentive Program is described as follows:

Tire Incentive Program
: The Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) administers tire grant programs to provide opportunities to divert waste tires from landfill disposal, prevent illegal tire dumping, and promote markets for recycled-content tire products. The Tire Incentive Program (TIP) provides a reimbursement (as an incentive payment program) to eligible businesses that use (recycled) crumb rubber in eligible products or substitute crumb rubber for virgin rubber, plastic, or other raw materials in products. The program’s goal is to increase demand for crumb rubber and promote higher value products. (CalRecycle Website)

CalRecycle offers cash incentives to use SBR (waste tire) products on fields of play and play surfaces. Recent coverage by NBC Nightly News has brought national attention to the toxicity of this material.

A cancer cluster of soccer goalies in Washington state was cited as compelling anecdotal evidence to support claims that tire crumb is hazardous to human health. As a result, members of Congress and state officials are calling for more thorough investigation into the immanent health threat these materials pose.

Cash for trash business decisions are made by state and municipal authorities and others due to this incentive from CalRecycle.

This is unconscionable. Not one family should suffer the pain and heartbreak of a loved one's sickness due to chronic exposure to waste tire material.

Please delist from the grant program projects in which direct human contact with toxic tire derived product waste is common. We don't need or want environmental toxins in places where we play.

Thanks for your consideration.