Editorial: Let’s get moving on recycling

Monday, May 7, 2001 | 9:06 a.m.

Clark County has done poorly when it comes to the percentage of residents who recycle. Sure, Republic Services of Southern Nevada, which has the county's franchise to haul garbage, does have a recycling program, but not enough residents participate in this environment-friendly endeavor.

Despite the years of inaction, it is encouraging that as part of Clark County's Solid Waste Management Plan, local government is considering ways to increase the number of people and businesses who recycle. As has been pointed out here before, one of the most frustrating roadblocks is that hardly any operators of multifamily dwellings allow recycling bins on their properties. This is quite a market that goes untapped since nearly 4 out of every 10 Clark County residents live in apartments, condominiums or townhouses.

But as the Sun's Steve Kanigher reported Thursday, an engineering firm, which was hired to help update local government's waste management plan, indicated that businesses could do the most to help the region meet the state's 25 percent recycling goal. Zia Engineering & Environmental Consultants said that an increase in residential recycling would not be enough, that businesses also would have to pick up the slack.

To get an idea of how far we'd have to go to meet this voluntary goal, though, consider this: Last year just 10.9 percent of the municipal solid waste was recycled, which is one of the poorest rates in the nation. What is abundantly clear is that there has been a vacuum of leadership on the issue of recycling. To make some headway will require a considerable amount of coordination among government, businesses and Republic Services. It won't be easy to change the disposable mind-set that too many valley residents have, but it certainly is a cause worth fighting for.