/ Modified jan 24, 2023 7:33 p.m.

Tucson takes plastic program citywide

City will turn waste plastic into blocks for building.

ByBlocks ByBlocks, produced by ByFusion from non-recyclable plastic waste.
ByFusion

Wednesday Council member Steve Kozachik will host a public meeting on the recycling program at his ward office, 3202 E. First Street, from 5:30 - 7:00 pm.

Tucson city leaders are moving ahead with a program to turn plastic waste into building materials.

Last August, Ward 6 council member Steve Kozachik set up a "roll-off" waste container outside his offices, to see if people would be interested in donating their non-recyclable waste plastic. Soon the bin was overflowing.

"The community has provided over 43 tons of non-recyclable plastic in one drop off location in the entire county. Every single zip code in the region's represented. We got people coming in from Oro Valley and Green Valley and Marana and all over the region," Kozachik said at Tuesday's city council meeting.

A California company called ByFusion pressed the plastic into blocks using its proprietary process. These "ByBlocks" as they're called, can be used like cinder blocks to make small buildings, walls and park benches.

The public reaction led the council to vote Tuesday to take the plastic program citywide and work with ByFusion to set up a Tucson processing center.

By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona