LETHBRIDGE, AB – Three former Lethbridge College students are being considered for a provincial award for their innovative idea to turn old tires into asphalt.

Civil Engineering technology graduates Amy Gregorchuk, Liudmyla Wagner and Daniel Mitchell are finalists for the Association of Science and Engineering Technology Professionals of Alberta’s Capstone Project of the Year.

They determined that a certain amount of crumb rubber mixed with hot asphalt actually improved the strength and quality of the product.

Gregorchuk says the goal is to repurpose rubber that would otherwise end up in landfills.

She says “there’s about 320-million tires produced in the US and Canada per year. We know that landfills are an issue and a greener environment is something that’s really up and coming and we wanted to follow that train basically.”

Gregorchuk says the team isn’t working on perfecting the mix at the moment, but she adds they’re definitely open to pursuing it further especially if investors come forward who are interested in funding the endeavour.

There are seven finalists for the award, which is expected to handed out at the end of the month.

ASET is the professional self-regulatory organization for engineering technologists and technicians in Alberta.