Phoenix Recycling Facility Tour
North Gateway Transfer Station and Materials Recovery Facility
30205 N Black Canyon Hwy
Phoenix, AZ
⦁ Tours are FREE
⦁ You MUST schedule your tour – link here
⦁ Tours are held on Thursdays only between 9:00 am – 2:00 pm.
⦁ Tours usually last a little under an hour
⦁ The toured area is clean and air-conditioned. You can even wear flip flops if you’d like.
⦁ Stroller and wheelchair friendly
⦁ We didn’t have an issue with the smell of their facility. They do say the best time to visit is in January when they have an abundance of discarded Christmas trees 😊
This is an educational tour of their day to day operations from start to finish. This is a large 43-acre facility. We were fortunate to be the only 3 on the tour. Eric was our tour guide and was able to answer EVERY question we had. He brought us upstairs to a hallway that is mostly windowed so you can see the workers performing their tasks. You can see the trucks loading and unloading, excavators moving the trash, sorting conveyor belts and other equipment on this tour. FYI, the regular waste that is collected is sent to the landfill in Buckeye, AZ.
We were told that this facility collects 1 million tons of trash a year. This amount of waste can fill up Chase Field seven times!!!
This tour was an eye-opener for us. We actually apologized for contributing to extra unnecessary work. We saw so many non-recyclable items on the conveyor belts. Eric told us one story about a car engine that somehow made it on one of their belts and caused one million dollars in damages and shut the machines down for 2 weeks.
Recycling in Phoenix is on a volunteer base only. You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Which is totally odd to hear from someone who lived has in New York City for almost 15 years. There the recycling program is mandatory and you can get fined over $100 PER PIECE for not participating properly.
This is a kid-friendly tour. They cater to many school trips, people looking to purchase a home in the area, or even adults like us that wanted to be more educated about recycling!
Paper and cans baled and ready to be shipped out
You will walk away with a greater appreciation for how and why everything is recycled, I know we did.