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Arizona Launches Rest Area Recycling Program

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The Arizona Department of Transportation announced they’ve launched a recycling program at three of the state’s rest areas, with plans to expand statewide.

“With each site visit I make to our rest areas, I see how necessary recycling is,” said Bobby Wheeler, rest area manager for ADOT. “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.”

The three participating rest areas are: McGuirville on I-17, Hassayampa on US 60 and Ehrenberg on I-10.

The state has teamed up with recycling vendors to install 8-cubic-yard bins at rest areas so that travelers can recycle their trash.  The vendor that will be collecting the recycling materials at the McGuireville rest area works with Rainbow Acres, which is an organization that provides jobs sorting plastics and aluminum to developmentally delayed adults.

“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. We are glad that we were contacted to provide recycling at the McGuireville rest area.”

The recycling program won’t cost the state a penny.  The recycling will be overseen by the Infrastructure Corporation of America, a private organization that manages operations and maintenance of rest areas in the state.

More of the state’s rest areas will be added to the recycling program, as more recycling vendors join in the program.

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

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