Houston waste firm eyes LV

Adrienne Packer

Monday, July 27, 1998 | 10:58 a.m.

A Houston-based solid waste firm is plotting its strategy to provide Las Vegas businesses with quality service at lower rates and offer Silver State Disposal Inc. stiff competition.

Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI) officials said they will soon be available for southern Nevada health care providers searching for a new company to dispose of medical waste.

"We believe we can offer better medical waste services to health care providers at a more reasonable cost," BFI spokeswoman Dorothy Beeler said Monday morning.

"BFI will be set apart from any other company by meeting or exceeding the existing services."

The company has not announced exactly when it will move into Las Vegas and go up against Silver State, which has had a monopoly on the valley's refuse since the early 1960s.

Beeler said BFI, which services communities throughout the country and in Puerto Rico, was approached by Las Vegas businesses after the U.S. Med incident in North Las Vegas.

North Las Vegas police discovered tons of tainted medical waste buried on U.S. Med property in March. The medical supplies, such as syringes and soiled hospital garments, must be either incinerated or treated and hauled to a landfill.

After fielding calls shortly after the U.S. Med incident, BFI representatives visited Las Vegas to determine whether it could indeed provide a more quality service, Beeler said.

Officials must determine how many customers may switch to BFI and how many trucks will be needed. The company also must look into which of its landfills is nearest to Las Vegas.

"When we come into an area, we look at our facilities to see what we can accommodate," she said.

Beeler said when the company moves into a new area, it brings in its own trained employees until it has an opportunity to train local residents.

While BFI is best known around the country for its residential garbage collecting services, the firm has no immediate plans to provide that service in Las Vegas.

"Right now we're focusing on medical waste because that is the real need," Beeler said. "It's hard to tell what tomorrow will hold."