Tucson’s Los Reales Landfill has a new name, but the change is only the first step in an effort to completely restructure the facility into an environmentally conscious resource.Tucson City Council voted unanimously to rename the landfill to “Los Reales Sustainability Campus” as the facility takes on the goal of achieving zero waste.
The move supports the climate emergency declaration the City Council adopted in September 2020, which committed Tucson to become a zero-waste city by 2050 and reach carbon neutrality by 2030. “We have been really trying to look at the Los Reales Landfill as a space for innovation and sustainability,” Mayor Regina Romero said. “In order to become a zero waste city, we really have to reimagine and think about our landfill in a different way.”
Los Reales opened in 1967 and is Tucson’s only active landfill. Every day, the facility takes in about 2,300 tons of solid waste, and the city says it spends more than $8 million every year to process waste here. The facility’s new name comes with plans to change its landscape while implementing sustainability programs to divert as much waste as possible away from the landfill.