The Climate Agenda: City’s plastics program is sticking around

Outgoing Councilman Steve Kozachik has been the force behind the city's plastics diversion program ... He might be leaving, the program is not ... Lobbying shenanigans at UA.

When Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik announced his retirement earlier this month, it wasn’t long before we started getting questions about what would become of his most recent passion project, the city’s plastic diversion program.

Fear not, it’s here to stay. And in fact, the program is already getting ready to expand.

The city’s plastic waste diversion program allows residents to drop off non-recyclable plastics in orange bins located at a handful of spots around town.

The materials are shipped off to Los Angeles and converted to construction-grade blocks using steam and compression. The blocks, called ByBlocks, are sent back to Tucson and used to build benches, walls, planters and more.

It started as a pilot program in August 2022, at Kozachik’s urging, and quickly picked up steam (no pun intended.) The pilot program crushed its early goal of converting 20 tons of plastics into blocks by December, bringing in upwards of 35 tons.

Outgoing city councilman Steve Kozachik has several pallets of ByBlocks in the garage of his Ward 6 office.

Last May, the city council approved a four-year, $1 million contract with ByFusion (the company that builds ByBlocks,) to build a facility in Tucson and scale up the program to a city-wide service.

"We’re the first community in the world to do something like this at this scale,” Kozachik told Caitlin, while standing in the garage of his Ward 6 office, surrounded by pallets of ByBlocks.

With more than 240 tons of plastics diverted from the landfill as of mid-March, community members are embracing the program and ByFusion’s Tucson facility at the Los Reales Sustainability Campus is expected to be up and running by the end of the year.

Weekly donations routinely top 10 tons and the community’s interest in ByBlocks has also increased, with constituents contacting Kozachik’s office to find out how to get blocks of their own.

Kozachik said that while ByFusion would prefer to control the marketplace for ByBlocks, he’s taken the opposite approach, selling blocks at cost ($3) to people who want to use them for small-scale projects.

It’s not just individuals who are interested in using ByBlocks in their projects. Therapeutic Riding of Tucson, a nonprofit that uses equine assisted activities and therapies to enrich the lives of people with special needs, is building a 800-square-foot air conditioned tack room out of ByBlocks.

Visitors to the Ward 6 office can tour a ByPad, a 90-square-foot building constructed by ByBlocks that can be assembled in two days.

And next month, Mission Garden, in partnership with the Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area, will unveil a mural painted on a ByBlock wall.

 “Anything you can do with a cinder block, you can do with these,” Kozachik said, adding that they also help address deforestation by reducing the amount of lumber used in the framing of structures.

As part of the agreement with ByFusion, the city will get $5 for every ton of plastic that the company collects and repurposes, along with 10% of the ByBlocks produced, which can be used in the construction of new city projects.

ByFusion will make its money through three primary revenue streams: Residential curbside pickup, selling ByBlocks to contractors and builders and third-party contracts with companies that generate a lot of plastic waste.

Kozachik pointed to one local business, Poly Print, which produces 100,000 pounds of plastic waste per month and has been paying a private trash service $750 every week to haul it away to the landfill. ByFusion will undercut those prices and convert the waste into ByBlocks.

“I’ve received criticism that I should be advocating instead for an international ban on plastic, but everything in our life is plastic,” Kozachik said. “It’s not an evil product, we just don’t manage it well.”

Are you curious about the status of a local program or project? Send us a note and we’ll check it out.

Foundation flub: It was supposed to be an arrangement to build relations between the University of Arizona and Morocco, but the lobbyist the UA Foundation hired for $10,000 a month actually spent his time trying to get California officials to erase fines on the online school the UA bought, the Arizona Republic’s Hannah Dreyfus and Helen Rummel report. The school ended up paying millions of dollars in fines and the UA rebranded it the UA Global Campus. 

Not out of the woods yet: What’s next now that federal funding to support asylum seekers in Pima County is starting back up? The Arizona Daily Star’s Emily Bregel checked in with local officials and nonprofits who are relieved to know millions of dollars are headed their way, but concerned it’s only going to last a few months. They were holding their breath as funding was expected to run out March 31, but the recent federal funding bill included $12.7 million for Tucson-area efforts.

Long road: The day after the Oro Valley Town Council faced a backlash from the public about a proposed apartment complex on a former golf course, Oro Valley Mayor Joe Winfield reflected on the long road to protect the Vistoso Trails Nature Preserve, which now sits on the site of the former golf course, in an interview with Tucson Local Media’s Dave Perry. Winfield said he’d seen “very few wins like this win,” where nearly all the land was preserved. He also was gearing up for the next task: protecting and maintaining the preserve for years to come.

Breathing room: Water users near Douglas will have an extra six months to make sure their water rights are protected, the Arizona Republic’s Clara Migoya reports. Residents created the Douglas Active Management Area in late 2022 to tighten groundwater regulations. Rep. Gail Griffin, a Republican lawmaker from Hereford and chair of the House committee that handles water issues, introduced a bill to make it easier for water users who might lose their ability to use high-volume pumps under the AMA to obtain grandfathered rights to water supplies. Gov. Katie Hobbs signed it into law this week, which gave water users until September to go through the process.

The race is on: The new challenger to Pima County Supervisor Steve Christy is hustling to gather signatures before the April 1 deadline, the Tucson Sentinel’s Jim Nintzel reports. Callie Tippett, a Republican who serves on the Vail Unified School District governing board, said she has her “work cut out for me,” but she wants to give voters a choice in who represents them.

Hat in the ring:  A math and science teacher in the Amphitheater Unified School District who’s been recognized nationally for her work, Robyn Yewell, joined the race for Pima County Superintendent of Schools, county records show. Maribel Lopez was running against incumbent Dustin Williams, but withdrew from the race. Yewell and Williams are both Democrats.

Buffel Slayers at Catalina State Park

Join the Buffel Slayers at Catalina State Park tomorrow from 8 a.m. to noon for a buffelgrass dig. Get into the park for free and check out the amazing wildflowers in bloom while helping the slayers battle buffelgrass during their last dig of the season. The group will be raffling off a baby saguaro and giving out stickers to attendees. Participants will meet at the Equestrian Center within the park, 11570 N. Oracle Rd. Turn left after the big wash crossing and head to the end of the road, past the camping loops. Park on the left and meet at the picnic tables at the trailhead for the 50 Year Trail. The slayers will provide tools, work gloves and kneeling mats and attendees should bring snacks, sunscreen, a hat and two liters of water. Learn more and register here.

Tree maintenance in Tanque Verde

The River Run Network is continuing restoration work in the 49ers Neighborhood with an event in the neighborhood’s wildlife corridor tomorrow from 9 a.m. to noon. The group has planted about 30 trees through the arroyo, in partnership with the 49ers Homeowners Association, creating shade and providing habitat for native wildlife and other plants in the shallow groundwater area. Volunteers will take care of the trees that have been planted, focusing on watering and installing protective wire cages around the trees to support them while they’re still young. To register or for more information, click here.

Help Amphi become stinknet-free

Saguaro National Park is hosting a stinknet removal event in the Amphi neighborhood on Tuesday from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. Stinknet is a recently introduced, invasive plant that crowds out other plants and can help fuel wildfires. A large infestation has invaded the Amphi neighborhood and spread into parts of the surrounding community. Learn how to identify and remove stinknet and join forces to help protect our community’s biodiversity. Volunteers will meet at Pima Federal Credit Union (3730 N Stone Ave.) and should bring drinking water, a 5-gallon bucket (if you have one) and a face mask. Find more information and register here.

Revitalize South Tucson’s Greenway

Join the City of Tucson, Tucson Clean and Beautiful and neighbors next Friday from 8 to 10 a.m., for a neighborhood cleanup at Father Kino Park and Arroyo Chico. The group will meet at 430 South Cherry Avenue, where staff will be posted up with supplies at the check-in table. Volunteers will pick up litter and beautify the area and should bring a water bottle with extra water and wear a hat, sunglasses, closed-toed shoes, long pants and long sleeves. Sunscreen, gloves, safety vests and park patrols will be provided. Learn more and sign up here.

Arundo removal at Tanque Verde Creek

Join the Watershed Management Group Saturday, April 6 from 7:30 to 11:30 a.m. for a Tanque Verde Creek restoration event. Staff and River Run Network volunteers will remove Arundo donax, an invasive species of giant reed, from the creek to help restore the surface flow and groundwater levels. Arundo drinks up to four times more water as native desert plants, crowds out native species and habitat and increases the risk of flooding and wildfire. Volunteers should arrive 15 minutes early to check in, as the group will be carpooling to the restoration work area. The group will meet at 12050 East Forty Niner Drive and tools will be provided. Attendees should bring water and wear close-toed shoes, long pants, a long sleeved shirt, hat, sunscreen and sunglasses. The event will take place in rough terrain and the group will be walking through and working in sandy, rocky, wet soils. Bathroom facilities will not be available. Learn more and register here.

Greywater harvesting and rebate opportunities

Join the Watershed Management Group for a virtual greywater harvesting class on Tuesday, April 9 from 5 to 7 p.m. Instructors will introduce attendees to potential opportunities to use greywater in landscaping, including harvesting best practices, a virtual tour of greywater features at the group’s Living Lab and information about qualifying and applying for the Tucson Water Greywater Incentive Program. Attendees will also learn about state requirements for greywater use, what to consider when planning out a system and maintenance needs and advice for a low-cost, simple to install system. Find more information and register here.

Upcoming meetings

• Tucson-Pima County Bicycle Advisory Committee- Wednesday, April 17 at 6 p.m.

• City of Tucson Citizen’s Water Advisory Committee - Thursday, April 18, at noon

• Complete Streets Coordinating Council - Wednesday, April 24 at 5:30 p.m.

We’d love to hear your ideas for future editions of The Climate Agenda. Send those to caitlin@tucsonagenda.com.