Columnist Jeff German: Garbage company may trash bad idea

Friday, April 22, 2005 | 5:28 a.m.

Jeff German's column appears Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in the Sun. Reach him at german@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4067.

WEEKEND EDITION

April 23 - 24, 2005

Some ideas are just bad -- like cutting back on trash pickup in the hot desert from twice a week to once a week.

Just ask Bob Coyle, the man who floated the idea last week.

Coyle is president of Republic Services of Southern Nevada, the politically connected company that has a monopoly on hauling away the valley's garbage.

After being peppered with questions from reporters, seeing his company criticized in a Sun editorial and having to listen to complaints from customers, Coyle wasn't that excited about the idea.

"I'm stepping back and reconsidering it," he told me at week's end, admitting that he feels a little embarrassed.

He told Sun reporter Timothy Pratt that he was going "back to the drawing board," and dropping the proposal to cut back garbage pickup. But he later called Pratt and said the idea was still in the mix.

Coyle had proposed reducing garbage pickup to once a week, saying it would help his company provide better recycling service. He suggested collecting recyclables once a week instead of once every two weeks -- and allowing residents to mix glass, paper and metal objects together in larger containers provided by the company.

Coyle said he was responding to Clark County officials, who wanted him to improve the company's less-than impressive recycling program. Republic Services, which has a contract to serve the county until 2035, hasn't done much over the years to encourage recycling.

"I am not the recycling police by any stretch of the imagination," Coyle said. "Somebody asked me for ways to improve recycling, and we developed a concept based on what other cities have done."

But not too many people liked the idea of leaving garbage around the house in 100-degree temperatures for a week to attract bacteria and insects.

So Coyle said he also will look at stepping up recycling collection to once a week without reducing the twice-weekly regular trash pickup.

This is a much better idea -- one that should make both the county and the public happy.

There's plenty of room for improvement in recycling in Southern Nevada and, with the leading trash collector on record finally showing interest in it, there's a chance to make some headway.

In 1991 the Nevada Legislature set a goal of recycling 25 percent of all solid waste in the state. But it's a goal that Clark County and the rest of the state have never met.

The latest figures provided by the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection in 2003 showed the county's recycling rate was a dismal 10 percent.

"We would like to see our recycling rate go up, but the public has to make a commitment," said Roma Haynes, the county's franchise services coordinator, who oversees the Republic Services contract.

But for that to happen, Republic Services has to make a commitment, too.

Coyle said he understands that, and he acknowledged that his company needs to provide more recycling incentives to the public.

"The program that's out there is not the most convenient for the customer, and it's not the most effective," he said.

Recycling, Coyle explained, is not a money-maker for Republic Services. The sale of recyclables barely covers the cost of collection.

But he said he's willing to spend millions of dollars to improve recycling if that's the will of his customers.

Hopefully, Coyle will remember that cutting back on regular trash pickup at the same time is a bad idea.

A company that has exclusive rights to haul away our trash, after all, should be coming up with ideas to increase service -- not take it away.