Recycling Association of Maricopa recipient of state grant award

Recently, the City of Maricopa was notified that they were awarded Waste Reduction Assistance (WRA) funding from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. The real recipient, however, is Environmental Concerns Organization (ECO), Inc. and its local Recycling Association of Maricopa (RAM) facility, which has been the recipient of WRA funding five times in past years.

In mid-July, the Maricopa City Council voted unanimously to act as a sponsor for the grant. ECO, Inc., as a non-profit organization, would have qualified for up to $100,000; however, municipalities could seek up to $200,000. Equipment needed to upgrade RAM’s material recovery capabilities in order to accommodate a residential curbside recycling program exceeded the $100,000 figure, thus the city’s sponsorship in behalf of environmental stewardship in the Maricopa area.

Final paperwork was completed in mid-December for grant monies in the amount of $199,000. The funds will be utilized for the purchase of a sorting line, a horizontal baler and skid steer with grapple bucket, which will total $185,000. The additional $14,000 will be used to provide recycling education. The cities of Nogales and Goodyear also received similar assistance amounts.

“The result of this grant is that millions of pounds of household waste will be diverted from ending up in local area landfills each year,” according to Gina D’Abella of ECO, Inc..

Gina D’Abella has seen the Recycling Association of Maricopa grow with the community.

ECO, Inc., is a non-profit corporation whose goal is the promotion of environmental stewardship and sustainable community projects. It provides environmental education programs to schools and businesses and develops and promotes a wide variety of One Earth Products, merchandise made from recycled materials. It also helps restore desert areas surrounding Maricopa through clean-up events and recycling the items recovered, and it operates RAM, our local, rural recycling center.

On America Recycles Day, November 15, 1997, RAM held its grand opening. It began as a recycling drop-off center manned by volunteers and individuals doing court appointed community service. In the first nine months of 2005, RAM had recycled over one million pounds of materials. It accepts more household recyclable commodities than any other collection facility in Arizona.

“Our organization never anticipated that our small, rural Maricopa community would be experiencing the hyper growth of today,” explained D’Abella. “We are extremely fortunate to have local, environmentally conscious neighbors, businesses and a city council that made this funding program possible for our community.”