Communities that offer recycling and local transfer stations are much cleaner, according to Terry Hubbard, an Arizona Department of Environmental Quality environmental engineering specialist.
By Trista Steers
Larson Newspapers
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Communities that offer recycling and local transfer stations are much cleaner, according to Terry Hubbard, an Arizona Department of Environmental Quality environmental engineering specialist.
Sedona has recycling — thanks to Sedona Recycles — but not a local transfer station.
?The further a community is from a transfer station, the worse off you are,? Hubbard said.
Sites in Cottonwood and Camp Verde are the closest locations Sedona residents have to dump waste.
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Hubbard, ADEQ?s state coordinator for illegal dumping, spoke at Sedona Recycles? annual meeting, which was dedicated to dealing with illegal dumping on public lands.
?Sedona needs a transfer station or some place to put waste,? Hubbard said.
According to a Sedona Recycles press release, the U.S. Forest Service picked up 25 tons of garbage illegally dumped in the Red Rock Ranger District of the Coconino National Forest in 2005.
In 2006, people dumped 422 tons of non-recyclable trash at Sedona Recycles? eight drop-off locations in the Verde Valley.
Providing legal, community-based dumping stations is one of four key components to addressing illegal dumping, Hubbard said. Enforcement, education and cleaning up waste dumped illegally also deal with the problem.
?You can?t address one part and forget about the others,? Hubbard said. All four points must be hit.
Sedona lacks the dumping site component.
Currently, Sedona residents drive to Camp Verde or Cottonwood to legally dump waste.
Sedona Vice Mayor Jerry Frey also attended the meeting and agreed with Hubbard.
?We really do need something in the city,? Frey said.
Frey supports creation of a transfer station in the city. He said people need to start e-mailing other council members to show them this is something residents really want.
City Engineer Charles Mosley said it isn?t about whether the city wants a station or not.
?There?s not an opposition on the staff level for a transfer station,? Mosley said.
It comes down to when, where and how, according to Mosley.
?We just have to be open-minded,? Sedona Recycles Director Kate Blevins said. ?Let?s look at the facts. Let?s look at the possibilities.?
Hubbard is coordinating an effort to address illegal dumping statewide.
?We?re trying to find out what it is the state can do to help with illegal dumping,? Hubbard said.
Hubbard has gone from community to community across the state meeting with local groups asking the same question, ?How are we going to deal with Arizona as a box, not as little communities??
