According to Sedona Recycles Executive Director Jill McCutcheon, her facility — which includes a sorting line and a bailer — is run almost totally off of energy gathered by solar panels installed with the help of a grant in 2010.

“Arizona is ideally suited to the increase of power production through solar energy,” she stated, adding that solar technologies will be one of the central focuses of Sedona Recycles’ Earth Day Fair and Fundraiser on Sunday, April 19.

“This will be the first year that we have done our Earth Day celebration this way as a sustainability fair,” McCutcheon continued. “Recycling efforts go hand in hand with renewable energy and local food and water conservation. We all are working to preserve natural resources and operate in a way that makes Sedona a better place to live. We thought that it was important to show all the ways the community is working toward a sustainable future.”

McCutcheon stated that all 10 of the recycling center’s employees will be involved with the fair, in addition to any volunteers they manage to attract.

“From cleaning the facility and getting it ready for the event, to working at the tables, to giving educational presentations — we will all be part of the fair. Most of our employees and volunteers have participated in past Earth Day events,” she stated.

To read the full story, see the Wednesday, April 8, edition of the Sedona Red Rock News.