MESA, ARIZ. - America Recycles Day (ARD) is a nationally recognized day dedicated to encouraging Americans to recycle and buy recycled products. ARD is celebrated annually on Nov. 15. The City of Mesa proudly supports this day by encouraging Mesa residents to think twice about what they throw into their trash containers. Mesa residents are also invited to visit mesarecycles.org now through Nov. 15 to take the "Mesa Supports America Recycles Day" pledge and enter to win a set of miniature City of Mesa trash and recycle barrels.
Many items that are normally discarded in the trash can actually be recycled under Mesa's Blue Barrel Program.
Accepted items in Mesa's blue recycle barrel include:
Plastic cups and containers #1-#7 (no plastic bags or foam products) Aluminum (food/beverage containers only) Metal cans (including empty aerosol cans) Cardboard and paperboard Glass (food/beverage containers only) Magazines and telephone books Milk and juice cartons Junk mail and office paper NewspapersRecycling is not only an environmentally friendly and responsible way to conserve Earth's natural resources but also financially benefits City of Mesa residents. A disposal fee is paid for every ton of material buried in the landfill but revenue is received for every ton of materialrecycled. These funds go into the City's general fund which helps support many quality of life services provided by Mesa Fire & Medical, Police, Library, and Parks. Also, just as it is important to recycle, it is also important to only recycle items accepted in Mesa's blue barrel program. Placing non-accepted items into the blue barrel, such as plastic bags and textiles, damages the equipment used to sort the material and causes the City of Mesa to incur severe penalty fees by its vendors. A printable flyer listing the most common non-accepted items can be downloaded by visiting mesarecycles.org.
To help make recycling even easier, in-home recycling containers are available at no charge to Mesa residents at the Environmental Management & Sustainability Department, 730 N. Mesa Dr. These 28-quart containers, suitable for placement under the kitchen sink, will allow residents to conveniently sort their recyclables from their trash. When the container is full of acceptable recyclable material, residents then simply dump the contents into their large blue barrel.
In-home containers are available for pick up on a first come, first serve basis and are limited to one container per household. For more information, visit mesarecycles.org.
Environmental Management & Sustainability
Contact: Mariano Reyes
Tel. (480) 644-5005
mariano.reyes@mesaaz.gov