The Rally in the Desert trash cleanup day saw 127 volunteers remove more than 18 tons of trash from Rio Rancho.

“Mayor Hull and Keep Rio Rancho Beautiful would like to thank all participates in this year’s cleanup. Your invaluable contribution was greatly appreciated. The appearance will protect the residents and wildlife of our beautiful city. We are grateful for all your support and efforts and hope to see you for our next event in May, The Great American Cleanup,”  Keep Rio Rancho Beautiful Program Specialist Frank Chavez said.

The team that collected the most trash was Hewlett-Packard Sustainability Team with 5.57 Tons of waste. AMREP Southwest came in second with 3.28 tons of waste, and in third was Jacobs Engineering with 2.83 tons of waste collected.

Other groups were Unit-10 UTV Club, Wastebusters, Dads Life Group, Community Together, Jordan Juarez For New Mexico, Shawver Family Crystal Lopez, and Lee Bet.

“They all made an impact, and it showed our community the dedication and commitment to keeping are city beautiful,” Chavez added.

For the year 2020, 60.18 tons of trash had been picked up. In 2021, it went down to 49.4 tons. Last year, it was significantly smaller at 16.21 tons.