Letter: Many advantages to recycling’s pilot program

Friday, July 7, 2006 | 7:23 a.m.

The Clark County Recycling Advisory Committee's recommendation for a recycling pilot program has received a lot of negative attention as of late based on a lack of understanding by the community at large. This is to be expected when our community has not been provided with enough basic information. I hope this letter will do just that.

This pilot program will provide us key insight into what works and what needs improvement, and I think that we should highlight what this program really offers. The proposed pilot program has several advantages over the current system. Some of these advantages are an increase to once-a-week recycling pickups and the use of single-stream recycling. Single-stream provides residents an easy way to recycle because it allows them to place their recyclable materials into one container.

Perhaps best of all, brand new recycling and trash containers will be provided at no cost. These new containers will be available in an assortment of sizes and will all have lids, which will help keep our neighborhoods clean and free of flying debris. An extensive education program will be conducted prior to and throughout the pilot program, and the service provider will even designate a hotline to answer any questions that participants might have. The program also reduces trash pickups to once a week from the current system of twice a week.

If these trash and recycling programs can work in areas throughout the Southwest with similar weather conditions and heat concerns, such as Phoenix and Tucson, then I believe we can be successful here as well. The residents of Clark County deserve an opportunity to try this program, and as a matter of fact, countless numbers of residents are begging to have their neighborhoods on the top of the list for this pilot program.

Scot Rutledge, Las Vegas