Casa Grande, Eloy and Coolidge have teamed up to compete with 305 cities across the nation to compete for a $5 million dollar innovation grant offered by Bloomberg Philanthropies, a non-profit organization headed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Officially called the “Mayors Challenge,” this competition encourages cities to identify bold ideas that solve major challenges and improve city life.
Casa Grande submitted an application identifying ways to extend the life of the landfill. The focus of the project is to create renewable energy from using solid waste dumped in the landfill. “The solution we are proposing has yet to surface in this country,” the City of Casa Grande said in its application. “We must seek innovative solutions to the monumental problem of having too many people and too little land.”
“While larger cities are typically the first to implement new technologies, in this case a few small cities are banding together to come up with a new and unique solution to solve a worldwide problem. The solution will extend the useful life of landfills across the globe, while being better environmental stewards.”
The grand prize winning city will receive a $5 million innovation prize; four runner-up cities will receive $1 million each. A selection committee will help Bloomberg Philanthropies identify the 20 finalist cities later this fall that will advance to the next stage of the competition. The final five winners from the finalists will be announced next spring.