Meet Lucas Mariacher

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lucas Mariacher.

Lucas, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I grew up in Buffalo, New York in a family of six. I am an identical twin and that defined most of my childhood.

My family has always been heavily involved in sports for as long as I can remember. More specifically, my dad was obsessed with the sport of wrestling. For that reason, I started competing in wrestling at a very young age and kept wresting throughout college, which is what brought me out to Arizona.

I attended Arizona State University (ASU) to compete on their highly accomplished wrestling team. Although I was a pretty decent wrestler coming out of high school, I was not one of the select few blue-chip recruits that received a full athletic scholarship to attend school. I quickly realized I needed a part-time job to cover my living expenses and tuition. I ended up getting a student job as a recycling truck driver on campus, which was an amazing job. I picked up recyclables from campus buildings in between my classes and intense workout schedule.

I was fortunate enough to be hired on full-time right after graduation and the rest is history. Fast forward eight years and I am now the Zero Waste Coordinator for the city of Phoenix, one of the largest cities in the country.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It depends on how you define smooth. It was tough moving far away from home at a young age and still is today. I am constantly reminded about missing family parties, weddings, important moments in my sibling’s lives, etc. Plus, we age. The more we age, the more we miss family.

Other than that, the main pain in my side is dealing with mounting student loan payments and struggling to save enough money for a down payment on a house. I think most people in my age group can definitely relate.

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I work as the Zero Waste Coordinator for the city of Phoenix. I work within the Public Works Department and am responsible for leading our public outreach and education team, which is a small but very efficient and driven team. I don’t often talk about our/my accomplishments but we were just announced as the runner up for the best public recycling education program in the nation.

My team and I represent the department at community events, presentations, tours or similar educational engagements. Our sole purpose is to educate and inspire Phoenix residents to recycle right and learn about the programs our department offers. When I started with the City in 2016, we had a lot of catching up to do in regard to our education, creative materials, and marketing tactics. In less than two years, we have completely overhauled everything- from the website to our color palette and team name, we have brought our program into the modern era, as I remind any new hire I bring on board.

What sets our small team apart from other similar government education teams is that we are a talented, friendly, educated, fiscally responsible, forward-thinking and competitive group. We challenge ourselves every day and propose ideas to our leadership that most local government education teams wouldn’t have any interest in doing. I am a big proponent of trying anything once.

Is there anyone, in particular, you would like to recognize? Mentors, etc?
My parents deserve most of the credit for my success. My philosophy has always centered around working harder than everyone else. Hard work makes up for many intangibles, and I learned how to work hard, be humble, and stay committed to something through my parents. Nothing was ever easy for them and to this day they continue to inspire me by their work ethics.

All my wrestling coaches deserve a lot of credit as well. Wrestling is such a tough sport and you learn so much about life through wrestling; there is no one else to blame your poor performance on but yourself. Whether it is not eating for three days to make weight for a competition or getting your but kicked by the national champion in practice (who happened to be in my weight class at ASU), YOU are solely responsible for ensuring your own success. I learned a lot of life lessons from wrestling; life is not fair, the importance of setting goals, suffering through mental/physical pain and deprivation, teamwork, weight management, etc. The list goes on and on.

My supervisor at ASU and here at Phoenix deserve credit for much of my work success. They have forced me into uncomfortable situations, challenged me and also reminded me that work is not life- it’s actually the opposite. I truly appreciate the time they have invested in me on my journey through the first phase of my work life.

Lastly, my Zero Waste team deserve credit for any success we have had since I got hired in Phoenix. They are great, and they remind me every day. They happily accept my direction with a smile (for the most part). I would be nothing without them. I hope one day they will be fortunate enough to lead a team with similar skills and talents as I do with them.

Contact Info:

• Website: phoenix.gov/recycle
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/talkingtrashphx
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/PHXPublicWorks
• Twitter: twitter.com/TalkingTrashPHX

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