Keep Phoenix Beautiful offers recycling opportunity to community.
Keep Phoenix Beautiful (KPB) jumped into January with a ‘I Recycle Phoenix‘ event. KPB has hosted four of these one-stop recycling events annually for the past 10 years. This year, a fifth event will be added in March as part of its celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. The events, which are held at different locations, are open to all residents. This particular event was hosted at the Christown Spectrum Mall in North Central Phoenix.
“Our January event … is not our largest of the year, but it is important that we move the event around the city (Phoenix is 550 square miles) to better serve the community,” said Keep Phoenix Beautiful President/CEO Tom Waldeck.
‘I Recycle Phoenix’ offers paper shredding, electronics recycling, lithium batter recycling, teacher supplies, food bank donations, and even bicycles. Since its inception, the series has diverted over 2 million pounds of a variety of materials from the landfill.
“Our paper shredding, by far the most popular, is provided by Security Data Destruction, a division of Friedman Recycling,” Waldeck said. “They typically bring two shredding trucks and three more box trucks, and they are all full by the end of the five hours.”
Co-sponsors of the 2019-20 event series include: Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, 850zip, and the City of Phoenix Department of Public Works. Additional partners include Westech Recyclers, Treasures 4 Teachers, Batteries Plus, ICM Food & Clothing Bank, and Bike Saviours. The electronics recycling services are sponsored by Verizon.
At this event, KPB also collected and recycled Christmas trees which are turned into mulch for local parks. In addition, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego declared Jan. 4, the event date, as ‘I Recycle Phoenix Day.’
“We are proud that we have kept this going and growing for 10 years and, as you can see, it is very much a team effort,” Waldeck added.
KPB’s upcoming I Recycle Phoenix events are set for Feb. 15, March 14, and April 4, 2020.