U.S. recycling push launched from LV

Stephen Curran

Tuesday, May 25, 2004 | 11:03 a.m.

Nevada's recycling programs may be years behind most of the country, but that didn't stop the Bush administration's top environmental official from using a Las Vegas convention to pitch a national push to bring recycling to the nation's malls and shopping centers.

Speaking at the International Council of Shopping Centers convention at the Las Vegas Hilton, Mike Leavitt, Environmental Protection Agency administrator, said spreading recycling to American stores would be a natural step in what has become an integral and, in some states, mandatory part of life.

Almost 30 percent of the nation's waste is recycled, according to the EPA.

In 1991 Nevada set a goal to recycle 25 percent of its waste by 1995.

But as of this year Nevada recycles barely more than 10 percent of its waste, said Adrienne Priselac, an environmental protection specialist in the EPA's Western region waste reduction office in San Francisco.

"Nevada as a state is pretty far behind most other states in terms of waste recycled," Priselac said. "They're probably last or pretty close to last. But we (the EPA) are doing everything we can to help Nevada."

The ranking comes as the EPA launched a national initiative with the ICSC to take recycling to what Leavitt called "the next step," expanding the practice beyond homes, schools and workplaces.

"It (recycling) is an American ethic," he told the crowd of commercial real estate professionals in brief remarks.

Recycling efforts have boomed, going "from a blue sack to a big blue barrel," he said, referring to the traditional color of a recycling container.

With just over 10 percent of the state recycling its trash, Nevada is barely at the blue-sack stage, Priselac said.

Republic Services, which handles Clark County's trash collection, offers voluntary twice-monthly recycling for the county at an additional fee, but does not pick up at apartment complexes in the Las Vegas Valley, said Republic spokeswoman Lee Haney.

Commercial-grade recycling, which includes local malls and shopping centers, is collected in the same trash cans that contain non-recyclable materials, Haney said. An elaborate conveyor belt system at Republic's facility then sorts bottles, aluminum cans and newspapers from the garbage.

While Republic claims the mechanized system is more efficient, Jeff Scott, director of the EPA's waste division for the western region, said the process is rarely used and increases the likelihood recyclable items get thrown away.

"Some municipalities sort garbage with machines although the trend is to have people put potentially recyclable materials together (in a separate container)," Scott said. "(Using a machine) you won't be able to pick out as much material, typically."

Republic, which was first awarded an exclusive contract with Clark County in the 1960s when it was under different ownership, most recently renewed its contract in 1996. Under the current agreement, the company must provide voluntary curbside recycling at a cost of about $1 a month, said Roma Haynes, franchise coordinator for Clark County, who oversees Republic's contract.

To make it mandatory would require an amendment to the contract and would have to be voted on by county commissioners, Haynes said. The existing contract makes Republic the exclusive trash collector through 2035, she said.

Haynes blamed a lack of recycling on the area's steady flow of tourists.

While the hotels recycle, Haynes said tourists are less careful to separate recyclables on vacation.

The county runs a series of televised public service announcements and billboards to encourage local residents to recycle, she said.

"It's up to the residents to put the recycling out and that's their choice," Haynes said. "Recycling is not profitable and it doesn't come free. There would have to be a willingness from the public to pay more."

California recycles almost half of its trash, Priselac said.

But Nevada's location, far from the remanufacturing centers that process the recycled material, is among the factors working against it, said Jane Feldman, conservation coordinator for the Southern Nevada Group of the Sierra Club.

"It's such an overwhelming issue that one person feels they can't do it themselves -- so nothing works," Feldman said. "But before we move to recycling in shopping malls we need to move to recycling where people live."