Treading Boldly: Tire Recycling Foundation Names First‑Ever Circle of Change Awards Finalists

WASHINGTON – April 27, 2026 – The Tire Recycling Foundation (TRF) announced the finalists in the Foundations’ inaugural Circle of Change Awards – a national recognition program created to spotlight the people, organizations and teams advancing tire recycling, expanding markets for recycled tire products, and demonstrating leadership in the circular economy.

From state programs that have built scalable, self-sustaining end-use markets to engineering breakthroughs that are putting recycled tire materials to work in roads, stormwater systems, and urban redevelopment projects, the finalists illustrate both the breadth of innovation in the tire recycling sector and the growing demand for tire-derived products across the United States.  

“At the heart of tire recycling is a simple but powerful challenge: reframe waste from an endpoint into a catalyst for societal value,” said Stephanie Mull, executive director of the Tire Recycling Foundation. “This year’s nominees show how far we’ve come in turning end‑of‑life tires into valuable materials that strengthen infrastructure, support communities, and protect the environment and remind us that important work still lies ahead.”

The Awards span four categories, each representing a key aspect of tire circularity: the tire recycling processes, the design and creation of recycled materials, the development of the markets where they are utilized, and the entire circular end-of-life tire value chain.  

Together, all nine projects highlight the creativity, diversity, and positive momentum within the U.S. recycled tire industry.  

Circular Economy Trailblazer Award: This category recognizes state programs that have built the policy frameworks, funding structures, and market incentives needed to make end-of-life tire management work at scale, and that other states can learn from.

• Colorado – Through its Waste Tire End Users Rebate Program and targeted market-development grants, Colorado expanded demand for tire-derived fuel, molded products, civil engineering applications, and other technologies while reducing tire stockpiles and illegal dumping.  
• North Carolina – The state implemented a scalable legislative model that stabilized upstream tire‑recycling systems, ensuring counties are reliably reimbursed for collecting and managing end‑of‑life tires before expanding incentives for end‑use markets like rubber‑modified asphalt (RMA).

Innovation in End-Use Technology Award: This category recognizes projects that have found new and inventive applications for recycled tire materials, demonstrating that end-of-life tires are a versatile resource for solving real infrastructure and environmental challenges.

• Bolten & Menk – The company built a stormwater BMP system, from 210,000 recycled tires for the City of Woodbury. This project demonstrates how Tire‑Derived Aggregate (TDA) can be integrated into modern green infrastructure to meet stringent regulatory and sustainability goals.
• LHB Engineering & St. Paul Port Authority – Together, the organizations applied 30,000 yards of Tire‑Derived Aggregate (TDA) in underground stormwater retention to enable the environmentally responsible redevelopment of the former Midway Stadium brownfield site in St. Paul, Minnesota.
• Liberty Tire Recycling – In partnership with Atlanta DOT, the University of Georgia and The Ray, Liberty Tire Recycling’s Atlanta RMA Heat‑Island Pilot is applying recycled tire rubber in a dense urban corridor to improve pavement durability while studying climate and equity benefits.  

Market Development Excellence Award: This category recognizes efforts that have built sustained, scalable demand for tire-derived products, turning recycled tire materials into a reliable component of state and regional infrastructure programs.

• Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) – In collaboration with Alabama State Parks and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, ADCNR leveraged RMA to resurface roads and parking areas at public parks, improving pavement durability while creating consistent demand for tire‑derived materials.
• Michigan EGLE and Partners (CRC–CRAM–MTU–MDOT–STIC–ENTECH–EGLE–Asphalt Plus–Liberty–I Do TDA–Porous Pave)  – Through a long‑running, multi‑partner Scrap Tire Market Development effort, Michigan has embedded recycled tire materials into core infrastructure, scaling applications from pilot projects to hundreds of lane‑miles statewide through advanced specifications, research, and coordinated partnerships.

Value Chain Collaboration Award: This category recognizes partnerships across the tire recycling supply chain that are closing the loop – creating traceable, circular systems that return end-of-life tire materials back into productive use.

• Bolder Industries & Pirelli LLC– The Pirelli North America–Bolder Industries Circular Flow of Scrap Tires initiative establishes a fully traceable, closed loop system that converts scrap tires into ISCC PLUS-certified recovered carbon black for use in new tire production.
• Phibro rCB – After restarting an idle pyrolysis facility, Phibro worked closely with regulators, feedstock suppliers, certification bodies, and downstream customers to qualify recycled carbon black and recovered materials for use in new tire production.

"The Circle of Change Awards recognize bold action and innovation,” said Dick Gust, president of the Tire Recycling Foundation Board. “We honor the innovators, state leaders, and collaborators demonstrating that tire recycling unlocks real solutions and transformation. Each finalist exemplifies what’s possible when visionary action aligns with smart policy and sustained commitment.”

All nominations for the Circle of Change award are evaluated by a panel of judges comprised of independent industry experts. Entries are scored on innovation, measurable impact, scalability, and alignment with category goals. While each category will receive one award recipient, the committee can recognize noteworthy entries with Honorable Mentions at its discretion.  

You can learn more about the nominated projects at https://tirerecyclingfoundation.org/Awards.

Winners will be announced on May 14, 2026, at the Tire Recycling Conference Awards Luncheon in Denver, Colorado. The theme of this year’s Conference is “Tread Boldly: Advancing Tire Recycling Through Collective Innovation.”  

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About the Tire Recycling Foundation

The Tire Recycling Foundation is a broad-based, whole value chain initiative, led by the U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association (USTMA) and the Tire Industry Association (TIA), committed to securing funding and allocating grants for research, education, intervention and demonstration projects targeting critical gaps within the tire recycling supply chain across the United States.