Copa Cares free cleanup event is Saturday

For some residents, it’s a convenience. For others, it’s an opportunity.

The Copa Cares Cleanup event, during which the Recycling Association of Maricopa accepts residents’ bulk trash – refrigerators, old televisions and broken appliances – and green waste for free is 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

The convenience lies in the lack of fees.

“There’s people that wait all year for this,” said Gina D’Abella, executive director of ECO Inc., a local nonprofit that promotes recycling.

D’Abella said it’s not uncommon to see trucks and trailers pull up full of bulk trash the driver has been “stockpiling” all year.

The event is co-sponsored by RAM, the city of Maricopa and Waste Management.

Usually, the facility charges $20 to accept any appliance that has a refrigerant and $10 for any computer monitor or television.

The fee for monitors and televisions help defray the costs to recyclers of shipping lead-based glass to the only facility in the country that can recycle it.

Since glass is generally heavy, the costs of shipping can mount up. 

“They don’t make money on TV screens,” D’Abella said. 

The fee for appliances with refrigerant helps the center to pay the cost of having a licensed technician remove the refrigerant safely and in accordance with federal guidelines. 

“A lot of places won’t do that,” D’Abella said. “Many times they just cut the wires.”

The facility has cleared 240 cubic feet of space to hold people’s busted stoves, old VCRs and anything that’s either electronic or won’t fit in a dumpster. 

It will not accept hazardous household chemicals, however, such as paint.

The recycling association does more than give people a place to get rid of their junk, which is where the opportunity comes in.

“What we do is a little different from other (centers) in Arizona,” D’Abella said. “We actually separate out the useable things.”

That might include furniture, children’s toys or anything else that isn’t quite trash.

After collecting the items for a year, the center holds a garage sale.