TSA Market Development Fund to support real-world demonstration projects

The application of the Tyre Stewardship Fund, which has seen over $3 million committed in support of R&D projects focussed on new domestic uses for recycled end-of-life tyres, has now been expanded to include a Demonstration and Infrastructure stream.

The new project stream will support projects that, offer potential for significant domestic use of tyre-derived product and that will benefit from real-world trialling to help prove their viability to potential end-users and product specifiers.

The most obvious example being the testing, by roads authorities, of the application of the newly released Australian Asphalt Pavement Association national specifications for crumbed rubber containing asphalt.

The decision to expand the funding streams to further real-world validation was motivated by a demand to capitalise on the benefits of research and by the, TSA supported, National Market Development Strategy for Used Tyres 2017-2022 that identified the need to work on removing barriers to the take-up of end products.

An example of such real-world testing is the recent University of Melbourne trial to develop an optimum blend of permeable paving that incorporates recycled tyres to create urban ‘hard’ surfaces that can provide water to nearby trees.

The expanded funding stream does not allow for the funding of recycling infrastructure, seed funding for new ventures, clean-up of stockpiles or for feasibility studies.

Applications for TSA Market Development Funding can be made here.