ADOT initiating recycling program at rest areas

Blue recycling (Source: Arizona Department of Transportation)

TUCSON, AZ (Tucson News Now) - The Arizona Department of Transportation is implementing a new recycling program at three rest areas along the state's highways, according to a recent release. The program will cost nothing for ADOT to implement; recycling vendors will be overseen by the company in charge of operation and maintenance of the state's rest areas, Infrastructure Corporation of America (ICA). The ICA is a public-private partnership with the Arizona Department of Transportation.

Currently there are three rest stops participating in this new recycling program, said the release. They are McGruireville, near I-17, Hassayampa near U.S. 60 and Ehrenberg along I-10 near the California border. Plans are to expand the program to include all rest areas in Arizona, as more recycling vendors join in, according to the release.

The program means installing eight cubic yard bins and smaller blue containers to hold recyclable trash, this recycling will be collected once a week, said ADOT officials.

"With each site visit I make to our rest areas, I see how necessary recycling is," said Bobby Wheeler, rest area manager for ADOT, in the recent release "There are large amounts of plastic bottles and aluminum cans tossed in waste receptacles that go to a landfill without first being separated. We need to do the right thing and ensure recyclable materials are actually getting recycled."

McGuireville, one of the rest stops where the program has begun already has a recycling partner, Rainbow Acres in Camp Verde. The company provides jobs for developmentally disabled adults, in sorting plastics and aluminum for recycling.

"A crew comes from the Rainbow Acres ranch five days a week where five ranchers and two of our staff members will sort all of the plastics and cans," said Jill McCutcheon, executive director of Sedona Recycles, Inc. "We couldn't do the work without this great group of people."

As more recycling vendors join this new program, more rest areas will be able to participate. The goal of ADOT officials is to have a recycling program at each rest area in Arizona.

"We are glad that we were contacted to provide recycling at the McGuireville rest area," McCutcheon said, in the recent release.

A map of rest area locations can be found in the Map Book at azdot.gov/maps.