Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Garbage plan recycled

Some consumers might think the deal stinks like days-old garbage, but the local trash company could come off smelling pretty good under a proposed plan for local rubbish collection.

Under the proposal, the overall frequency of garbage collection would be reduced and the trash company, Republic Services, would end up with a new fleet of vehicles and reduced operational costs.

In exchange, the company would pick up recyclable materials more often in an effort to boost Southern Nevada's dismal recycling rate.

The Southern Nevada Recycling Advisory Committee, which includes representatives from local governments, the Southern Nevada Health District, UNLV and Republic Services, plans to recommend a pilot program to Clark County, Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas next month.

The plan calls for regular trash collection to be reduced from twice a week to once a week - a proposition that many residents and elected officials say doesn't smell right.

Recyclables, however, would be collected once a week on the same day as regular garbage, instead of once every two weeks as is now the case - a move that advocates say is necessary to improve the valley's dismal record on recycling.

Republic would provide each single-family household with two new wheeled containers - one for regular garbage and one for recycling. Residents would choose the size: from 96-, 64- and 35-gallon containers. An array of recyclables could be thrown indiscriminately into the recycling container, which would replace the current three 12-gallon crates, which require residents to sort recyclables before putting them at the curb.

Republic had considered going to the commission with the same plan in April 2005, but public outcry squelched the plan.

The advisory committee, which has studied the issue for six months, wants local officials to approve a yearlong test program in four to 10 neighborhoods.

The panel says the trash-collection proposal is the best option because it would not require a rate increase for customers.

And although local officials already have heard protests from some residents, the advisory panel dismisses concerns that the less frequent pickups could cause odorous garbage to bake in hot garages for a whole week. The pilot program would be used to determine whether residents like the program, whether it increases recycling and whether it is cost-effective.

The latter seems undeniable - especially for Republic.

The company estimates it would cost $85 million to $90 million to implement the new program countywide.

Those costs would include $2 million in upgrades to increase the capacity at Republic's recycling center in North Las Vegas, $40 million to purchase new containers for Southern Nevada's 416,000 single-family homes and $45 million to purchase new trucks. Those trucks would feature a mechanical arm capable of picking up the new containers and would replace the company's current rear-loading trucks, which require an employee to pick up trash cans and dump them into the truck.

Republic anticipates it can recoup those investments within 10 years, said Bob Coyle, the company's area president. He would not specify how much beyond the initial investment the company expects to save through the program.

"We are in business to make profit. I'm not going to deny that," he said. "We don't anticipate any windfall."

The reduced number of routes and the advantages inherent in automated trash collection could result in savings beyond Republic's initial investment, said Laith Ezzet, senior vice president with Hilton Farnkopf & Hobson, a Los Angeles-based consulting firm that advises municipal governments about solid-waste contracts.

"You have to invest in the containers and you have to invest in new vehicles, but in the long run you need fewer trucks and less labor and you have more recycling revenue," he said.

County officials say the number of trips that Republic makes to each home would be cut from 10 every four weeks to 8 1/2 under the proposed program. Coyle, though, disputes those figures. He said the new automated trucks could not handle bulky items such as furniture, requiring an additional weekly trip by an older manually loaded truck. The difference in the number of trips under the current and proposed system would ultimately depend on the frequency of those bulky item pickups.

Cost savings for Republic would come from other efficiencies as well.

Ezzet said the mechanical trucks can cut in half the time it takes to pick up trash.

Also, the new trucks would require one worker instead of the two needed to collect garbage with the current vehicles. Coyle has guaranteed the Teamsters Union that there would not be any layoffs if the plan goes countywide. Some workers would be shifted to container maintenance and other positions would disappear through attrition, Coyle said.

Republic also anticipates that with the mechanical dumping system, workers' compensation costs would be cut 50 percent on residential routes.

"As a percentage, (workers' compensation costs are) not huge," Coyle said. "It's still a big dollar amount."

He would not disclose that amount.

Coyle argued that any revenue the company would receive beyond the program's costs would only offset other expenses.

Republic has not asked for a fee hike beyond the automatic yearly increase linked to the Consumer Price Index, despite huge jumps in gasoline prices and other costs, Coyle said.

"The real question is how do we do it now when all these other cities are up over $14," he said.

Rates low for region

Las Vegas and Clark County residents pay $11.82 a month for residential trash service - one of the lowest rates in the region.

By comparison, Phoenix residents pay $22.20 a month; Mesa, Ariz., $18.64; Scotts-dale, Ariz., $14.36; Austin, Texas, $17.25; El Paso, Texas, $15.16; Portland, Ore., $28.30; and San Jose, Calif., $50.40, according to officials in Tucson, which charges $14 a month.

Ezzet said county and city officials would ultimately need to analyze whether the changes warrant a rate decrease.

That's exactly the point of the pilot program, Clark County Manager Thom Reilly said. The county would closely scrutinize the costs and benefits to Republic, officials said.

If the county finds Republic would receive a windfall from the program, officials would push for lower rates, Reilly said.

"We would demand it," he said.

While elected officials in Las Vegas and Clark County say they are willing to keep an open mind about the test program, they are apprehensive about cuts to regular trash service.

"Boosting recycling is a worthwhile venture," County Commissioner Chip Maxfield said. "I applaud that effort, but not at the expense of reducing our current level of service."

The majority of commissioners shared that concern.

"There's no question there's been a public outcry," said Commission Chairman Rory Reid, referring to public reaction to a proposed reduction to regular trash service. "For that reason, I am certainly not in favor of it at this point because of those concerns."

Commissioner Lynette Boggs McDonald said on a personal level she would not want fewer pickups at her home.

"My hunch is (residents) would still want their garbage picked up twice a week," she said. "It would be my personal preference. I still have children in diapers."

Her hunch might be correct. Commissioner Myrna Williams said she has received 20 phone calls from constituents who don't want their garbage service cut.

"I'm not thrilled with that, and my phone has rung off the hook with constituents who don't like it either," she said.

The public's reaction

But negative publicity about the plan has not accurately reflected the public's sentiment, according to Roma Haynes, the county's franchise coordinator and a member of the recycling advisory committee.

"There is an overall group of old-timers here who believe Republic is out to scam them," she said. But that opposition is not representative of the 30 e-mails she has received on the topic recently, which she classified as "90 to 95 percent positive."

"I think the advisory committee choosing the same option Republic proposed last year looked suspicious," she said.

But that doesn't mean it's not viable, she added.

"There's not a lot of choice without raising rates," she said. "It's not to say we won't get to the end of the pilot program and say, 'This isn't for us.' "

Historically, recycling in Southern Nevada has never been impressive.

Only about 18.5 percent of the county's solid waste is recycled. The rate is even lower - only 2 percent last year - for residential solid waste collected by Republic.

Those figures fall far short of the Environmental Protection Agency's national recycling goal of 35 percent and the state's 1991 goal of recycling at least 25 percent by 1994.

"It is rather embarrassing," Reilly said.

Nationally, about 28 percent of all waste is recycled, according to the EPA. Many Western cities recycle at rates close to 50 percent.

The valley's poor participation has been blamed on a lack of public education and leadership from local politicians, as well as on plentiful landfill capacity and scant participation from apartment residents.

"We obviously have a failing program," local environmentalist Jeff van Ee said. "Republic has been remiss over the years in promoting the recycling program."

Water district cited

He points to what the Las Vegas Valley Water District has done in terms of promoting water conservation as a good example of what the county and Republic could be doing for recycling.

"From my standpoint, to go from where we are today to what they are proposing misses that important step of doing a public-outreach program," said van Ee, associate director of Nevada Outdoor Recreation Association.

Haynes and Coyle say public education will be an important component of the pilot program.

Another problem with pushing for recycling is that the local landfill can handle another 100 years' worth of garbage, Haynes said.

But the lack of a crisis is not an excuse for complacency, county officials said.

"We shouldn't always need to have a lawsuit to get sensible policy," Reilly said. "Our community needs to stop operating in crisis mode. There's no reason why we should be at the bottom of the pole."

The proposed program has a proven track record of boosting recycling rates elsewhere, and residents in those communities have found few problems with once-a-week garbage collection.

In Tucson, recycling rates have jumped from 8 percent to 21 percent after a similar program was implemented in 2002, said Wilson Hughes, waste-reduction planner for Tucson.

"The easier you make it for the customer, the more stuff you are going to get," he said.

Despite initial concerns, the switch from twice-a-week garbage service to once-a-week pickups has not caused any problems or complaints about odors in the desert city, he said. "The lids close securely and that wasn't really a problem," he said.

Republic Services received $4.9 million in revenue from recyclables last year. That figure includes sales from curbside residential recycling, commercial recycling, equipment rental such as balers for commercial customers and document-destruction revenue.

Coyle could not immediately provide revenue figures for residential recycling alone, but said the amount of residential recyclables could potentially jump 400 percent based on results elsewhere.

Republic and local governments have not discussed whether those increased revenues would be shared.

Overall, Republic Services reported $116.1 million in revenue from unincorporated Clark County alone last year. That represented nearly a 13 percent increase over the $102.8 million in 2004.

Unincorporated Clark County's population grew only 3.93 percent in that time, according to county statistics.

As a publicly traded company, Republic Services Inc., based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., operates 140 garbage-collection companies in 21 states and runs 32 recycling facilities. It reported $253.7 million in net income in 2005 from $2.86 billion in net revenue. Its net revenue increased by $155.8 million over 2004. Of that amount, $2.7 million came from recycling, but its profits from recycling were not disclosed.

Republic Services boasts exclusive decadeslong contracts with Clark County, Las Vegas, Henderson and North Las Vegas. Those contracts allow local governments to approve pilot programs.

The advisory committee plans to find neighborhoods willing to voluntarily participate in the pilot, said Tara Pike, a committee member and coordinator of UNLV's recycling program.

"They are going to run over winter, spring and summer, so the whole idea of garbage smelling can be looked at through the pilot," she said.

Volunteers on board

The proposal already has some willing volunteers.

Bill Ward, 82, president of the Mountain View Estates Homeowners Association, a manufactured-home community for residents 55 or older, said the program would be ideal for the roughly 750 people in his neighborhood.

"We love the idea," he said. "The (three) bins are not suitable for our community. A lot of people are not able to pick up those heavy cartons and haul them out to the street."

Beatrice Turner, 45, of Bonanza Village Estates wants the program to come to her neighborhood for aesthetic reasons. A street lined with similar-looking garbage cans that have lids to keep trash from blowing around "will make the neighborhood look nicer," she said.

To implement the program countywide, commissioners and council members in each jurisdiction would have to approve changes to their contracts with the company.

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