Business called key to county recycling

Thursday, May 3, 2001 | 10:50 a.m.

An engineering firm hired to revise Clark County's Solid Waste Management Plan suggested that local businesses can do the most to help the county meet the state's 25 percent recycling goal.

At a workshop at the Clark County Government Center Wednesday, representatives of Zia Engineering & Environmental Consultants Inc. of Las Cruces, N.M., told local environmentalists, businessmen and government officials that an increase in residential recycling alone would not be sufficient.

"My guess is that the bulk of that diversion will have to come from the commercial side," said Zia project manager Richard Hertzberg. "The commercial sector is underutilized compared to what its potential can be."

Nevada set its voluntary 25 percent recycling goal for commercial and residential waste 10 years ago but none of the state's 17 counties have ever complied.

Clark County, which has one of the lowest recycling rates of any metropolitan area in the country, recycled 10.9 percent of its municipal solid waste last year. That was up from 8.3 percent in 1999, but still well below the 16.9 percent rate achieved in 1996.

Hertzberg said the county has to overcome numerous obstacles to improve its recycling rate. Among them are the lack of recycling bins in apartment complexes and the absence of political leadership on this issue. He said potential solutions include having more collection centers for recyclables such as paper and metal and creating incentives for companies to use recycled material.

"The idea is to stretch what is possible," Hertzberg said. "Imagine what could happen and then back off and look at what is realistic."

Environmentalist Jeff van Ee said it is important to give individuals economic incentives to recycle.

"Perhaps down the road we could modify the economics so people see that it is to their benefit to change their behavior," he said.

But Zia president and principal engineer Edward Martinez said plentiful landfill capacity throughout the West makes it difficult to promote the viability of recycling in this part of the country.

"From the perspective of promoting recycling, economics is definitely a barrier," Martinez said.

From now through June 2002 the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection intends to spend $100,000 on a public relations campaign to promote recycling. Most of that money will be spent on television, radio and billboard advertising in Clark County, said Les Gould, the division's solid waste branch supervisor.

The State Environmental Commission next week is also scheduled to consider new regulations that would provide access to recycling at all local, state and federal public buildings in Nevada.

The county, meanwhile, is expected to consider and approve its revised Solid Waste Management Plan by September. The plan, intended to run through 2005, will include recycling strategies. One idea under consideration is for the Clark County Health District to hire a full-time recycling coordinator.

But a draft solid waste plan prepared by Zia suggested that the county faces an uphill battle in improving its recycling rates.