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BACKGROUND America Recycles Day (ARD) happens every November 15 and is a national day of recognition for the recycling efforts of citizens throughout the United States. This includes efforts to recycle and to buy recycled. The 2004/05 America Recycles Day theme was "It All Comes Back To You". Follow the link below to visit the America Recycles Day website. Pledge to recycle, see President Bush's Proclamation for ARD and see other events from across the country.

America Recycles Day National website

The city of Phoenix appreciates the efforts of its solid waste customers to use their blue "Phoenix Recycles" barrels every day and help to make "Every Day America Recycles Day". Last year over 118,000 tons of recyclables were collected and processed (that's about 20% of every thing we throw away at home). Continual efforts are made to improve the quality and quantity of materials collected through education and equipment upgrades. Please visit other locations of the Phoenix Recycles website for more on these efforts information.

2004 AMERICA RECYCLES DAY ACTIVITIES

Following is a list of the America Recycles Day - Phoenix Arizona activities the city of Phoenix assisted and coordinated during the 2004 celebration.

America Recycles Day National Pledge Drive

All Phoenix residents were urged to visit the America Recycles National Website. There resident can pledge to increase their recycling efforts and be placed in a contest to win a bicycle made from recycled steel or even a car! In past years, people who have pledged have won houses made from recycled products.

Library Book Bag Project

Throughout November, the Phoenix Libarary Department and the Public Works Department introduced an "America Recycles Day Book Bag Project". Young patrons at all of the city's libraries were encouraged to take a blank paper bag, draw a picture about books, libraries and recycling, and then REUSE the bag over and over to carry favorite library books to and from their home.

Click here for a flyer on the America Recycles Day Book Bag Project (this is a large file, 362KB) to see a list of the Library presentations and how to participate. To view this you will need to have Adobe's Acrobat Reader installed. If you do not have it, you may download Adobe Acrobat Reader here. Click on the previous link to download the reader and follow the instructions for installation. For more information, call 602-256-5607 or send e-mail.

Kids displaying book bags

Central Library truck appearance

Recycling at City Facilities

The Public Works Department continues to follow the City's Vision and Values statements by "Serving Our Customers" and "Learning, Changing and Improving" our recycling efforts at city facilities during 2004. Achievements include:

Full recycling efforts at the Phoenix Civic Plaza (a recent conference of solid waste professionals yielded over 21 tons of recyclable materials, a record for that national conference).

Improvements of recycling for city employees at many of the downtown offices including Phoenix City Hall and the Cordova Court Building.

Implementation of recycling at Fire Station 19 at Sky Harbor Airport.

Improvements to recycling at Maryvale Golf Course.

Consideration of a pilot recycling program on the public concourses at Terminal 3 of Sky Harbor Airport.

Senior Center Art Contest

The city of Phoenix Public Works Department and Keep Phoenix Beautiful once again worked with the Human Services Department and its 17 Senior Centers to coordinate a Senior Center Art Contest. Participants at the centers created art projects made from recycled materials like hats and purses made from plastic bags, Christmas wreaths made from six-pack holders, jewlery from junk mail, oragami from waste paper, tulips from old plastic spoons and bulletin boards made from old wine bottle corks. The winning entries from each center were displayed at Phoenix City Hall Atrium from November 8-19. Many of the art projects were purchased at the Annual Senior Center Holiday Bazaar at Heritage and Science Park on November 17. Call 602-256-5607 or 602-262-4820 for more information.

Overall recycled art winner, cane from oleander branch out for bulk trash. Frank Gilbert, Squaw Peak Senior Center