Arcadia program accepting surplus citrus

“Orange” you glad there’s a surplus citrus drop-off?

For a 12th year, backyard farmers with a surplus of citrus won’t have to drop off their excess on their neighbor’s doorstep in the middle of the night. The Arcadia Citrus Program will take all bagged, crated and boxed citrus every Saturday at the Scottsdale Elks Lodge, located at 6398 E. Oak Street in Scottsdale.

All the citrus goes to charity.

“We’ll take it all, even the ornamental oranges, which normally aren’t consumable,” said program founder Barry Paceley. “It will mulch. We don’t throw anything out, even if its damaged, we give it to our landscaping friends where it can be recycled”.

Volunteers will help unload donations for sorting and distribution.

In the program’s history, people have donated more than 2.5 million pounds of fruit. Drop-off times are from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturdays through March 23.