A new partnership between the city and Hefty could help Tucsonans more easily dispose of hard-to-recycle plastics.
The program is an expansion of a pilot project that the department has been running since 2022, which allows Tucsonans to recycle typically hard-to-recycle plastics, and divert waste from landfills., said Alyssa Tarpley, a spokeswoman for the city’s Environmental and General Services.
“It was originally in partnership with ByFusion, and now we’ve exceeded our limits with that,” Tarpley said. “So we’re partnering with Hefty ReNew because the city of Tucson residents were just really positively receptive to this program.”
The initial pilot program, aimed to reduce the amount of single-use plastic waste in landfills by sending Tucson’s hard to recycle plastics to ByFusion Global Inc, where it would then be turned into usable building materials. There was just one problem.
“Byfusion can process about 10 tons a month, and we were actually collecting about double that,” said Christina Polsgrove, a city spokeswoman. “So I was discussing the ByFusion program with a colleague, and he mentioned Hefty reduce.”
Similar to Tucson’s plastic waste reduction program, Hefty ReNew collects hard-to-recycle plastics and routes them to qualified end markets that transform the plastics into building products, construction materials and plastic lumber.
“We talked with them and we found out that ByFusion is in fact one of their markets,” Polsgrove said. “They also have end markets that produce composite lumber, roofing materials, that can take that excess that ByFusion cannot process.”
Tarpley and Polsgrove said that the Hefty ReNew program is targeted at waste that has not traditionally been recycled, and is meant to supplement current recycling efforts by the city. Items that can be recycled normally, should still be disposed of in the blue city recycling bins.
“Things that are accepted in our blue bin are the number ones twos and fives, like hard rigid plastic bottles, jugs, containers, some cardboard or aluminum and tin,” Tarpley said.
Other plastic products, including trash bags, bubble wrap, straws, and styrofoam can be disposed of in Hefty ReNew orange bags. For convenience, each bag features a list of hard-to-recycle items that can be collected in the bag for recycling.
Tucson residents can purchase the Hefty ReNew orange bags at their local Walmart or Fry’s within Tucson city limits, or request a free Hefty ReNew starter kit at HeftyRenew.com.
When it’s time to dispose of a bag, the waste can be brought to any of the five orange roll-off locations to be shipped and processed.
“It’s an awesome opportunity for residents to divert waste from the landfill,” Tarpley said. “I think it’s a big testament to the Tucson community with how much they already did and are willing to do.”
