Phoenix leaders will consider a plan to help reach the city’s goal of creating zero waste by 2050.
The plan includes two research and development pilot programs. The first would focus on processing certain plastic that’s hard to recycle and trash that ends up in the city’s black bins.
Project manager Amanda Jordan said the waste can be converted into biodiesel fuel and something called naphtha, "which is the baseline molecular component to convert a plastic back into a plastic, so looking at highest and best use. And biochar, which is a nutrient dense, rich soil amendment that could be utilized to help remediate lands within Phoenix.”
The second pilot program would focus on processing bio solids and sludge and converting them into products like bio crude oil and liquid fertilizer. Both pilots would use up to 2.5 acres of city-owned land near 35th Avenue and Elwood Street.
If the City Council approves the deal with Krause Interior Architecture, Inc. and its partners, they will lease city-owned land and get credit towards rent based on waste materials that are diverted from the landfill and other streams.
“So that is one metric is the clear diversion and prolonging the space of our landfill, lowering the cost to haul 60 miles out to our landfill in ... Buckeye,” said Felipe Moreno, Phoenix public works director. “But also, the other piece is the economic side, the value and the benchmarking we bring in to say what revenue, what job creation, what other opportunities are to do once we’ve diverted that waste.”
He said Phoenix is currently at 36% waste diversion, which is higher than the national average of 32%. The city’s goal is to divert 50% of waste from landfills by 2030 with the ultimate goal of zero waste by 2050.
