Editorial: A trashy program

Tuesday, July 11, 2006 | 7:29 a.m.

A plan for changing local garbage collection suggests that not all of Las Vegas' illusionists work onstage.

According to a Sunday story in the Las Vegas Sun, the Southern Nevada Recycling Advisory Committee proposes to do away with one of Republic Services' two weekly garbage collections in exchange for a more automated system and increased recycling pickups.

It is a proposal that Republic Services favors and that the company pitched to the public last year. The proposal failed, but it is now being promoted by the recycling advisory committee, which includes representatives of local governments, UNLV, public health officials and, not surprisingly, Republic.

Under the plan, residents would dump recyclable items into a single large container, rather than separating them into three bins as is done now. And items for recycling would be picked up every week, rather than every two weeks. Republic would provide residents with the specially designed garbage and recycling cans.

The trade-off is that Republic would cut back garbage collection from twice a week to once, with workers picking up trash on the same day they collect recycling. Under the guise of improving the valley's poor recycling record, this proposal cuts back on trash collection.

The program would be studied in 10 neighborhoods as a yearlong pilot project that the advisory committee plans to recommend next month to officials in Clark County, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson, the Sun reports.

The test program is to be launched in neighborhoods that volunteer for it. Presumably, those communities that volunteer already want such a program, so feedback is certain to be positive.

This is a classic sleight-of-hand illusion. The real issue is that Republic wants to save money and make fewer garbage runs. Republic itself pushed for long-term contracts with local governments, and unless it is willing to reopen the agreements to competitive bidding, it should not even think of reducing its quality of service.

By grandstanding about an easier method for collecting recyclables and picking them up more often - two things Republic should do anyway - proponents seem to hope the public won't notice that their garbage will be sitting around for a week. Something about this whole deal still smells wrong.