Tucson residents could soon see their trash used in local construction projects as part of a pilot program through City Councilman Steve Kozachik’s office.
Kozachik is collecting plastic products that can’t be recycled in the city’s blue bins — such as plastic bags, plastic utensils and bubble wrap — in a roll-off container behind his ward office at 3202 E. First St. He plans to turn that plastic into construction-grade blocks for local projects.
The councilman has long advocated for the city to partner with the start-up company ByFusion, which creates blocks from unrecyclable plastics. The company places plastics into a patented machine that uses steam and compression to churn out 22-pound blocks that fit together with interlocking pegs.
Collection site at the City of Tucson city council ward office at 3202 E. First St. for non-recyclable plastics to be turned into construction blocks through the ByFusion program.
Kozachik said plastics should be bagged to simplify the baling process, and items like cardboard, cans and recyclable plastics should still be recycled with the city. The Ward 6 office has bags available for people to collect their nonrecyclable plastics.
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The materials will be sent to local sustainable landscape company Tank’s Green Stuff for baling, shipped to ByFusion’s facility in Gardena, California, to be compressed into blocks, then shipped back to Tucson for local use. Kozachik estimates the city will receive about 1,500 blocks per ton of plastic.
The councilmember spearheaded Arizona’s first construction project using the recycled blocks for a bench in the San Gabriel neighborhood and hopes to use them in future projects under Proposition 407. He said the blocks could be used to build ramadas, benches and trash bin enclosures as part of the $225-million bond package voters approved in 2018 for city park amenities.
According to Kozachik, “back of the napkin” estimates put the plastic collection pilot project at about $40,000, which he’ll pay for with dollars from his ward-specific budget. The councilman paid about $10,000 for the San Gabriel bench.
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