The City of Tucson Environmental Services (ES) department recently was presented with a Visionary Award by the Beacon Group for its commitment to provide meaningful employment to people with disabilities. Since 1986, ES has contracted with the Beacon Group to provide litter control at the Los Reales Landfill.

Since that time, ES has expanded its contract with the Beacon Group to support other divisions within the department. In addition to the landfill, the Beacon Group maintains the City’s 12 Neighborhood Recycling Centers, cleans various refuse compactor sites citywide, and has been instrumental in the development and implementation of the paint resale program. This year, ES contracted with the Beacon Group to process paint collected through the Household Hazardous Waste Program (HHW). The collected paint is turned over to the Beacon Group to be processed and re-packaged. The paint is then made available for purchase at Gerson’s Building Materials.