Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

ENVIRONMENT:

Lawmakers studying whether bottle, can deposits would work in Nevada

Recycle Bins

Justin M. Bowen

Recycling bins are seen on the curb in Anthem neighborhood of Henderson Tuesday, July 26, 2011. .

Recycling bill may offer cash incentives

KSNV coverage of a recycling program that is being discussed by Nevada lawmakers, Feb. 21, 2012.

Click to enlarge photo

Todd Korgan stands with his new recycling and garbage bins at his home near downtown Las Vegas on Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011.

Clark County has the lowest recycling rate among Nevada’s populous counties, but a legislative committee is looking at ways to improve that.

Figures presented Tuesday to the legislative committee show the recycling rate in Clark County in 2010 was 17.9 percent compared with the state average of 20 percent. Carson City’s rate was 41 percent; Douglas County, 38 percent; and Washoe County, 27 percent.

Among the possibilities to improve recycling rates: deposits and refunds on recyclables.

A bill in the 2011 Legislature would have imposed a 5-cent deposit on beer and soft drink bottles and cans. It didn’t pass, but lawmakers agreed it should be studied during the interim.

Ten states have can and bottle deposit bills.

Bob Coyle, vice president for public affairs for Republic Services, Southern Nevada’s trash hauler, told the committee that a pilot program involving 80,600 homes in Clark County showed an increase of 500-600 percent in recycling.

The testing is of so-called single stream recycling in which customers use two 96 gallon wheeled carts — one for trash and the other for recycled goods.

This pilot program diverted 25-30 percent of recyclable materials away from the landfill, he said.

Coyle said he hopes to have the entire county converted by 2017. It’s costing his company $80 million to make the switch. Imposing a deposit on bottles would cut into his proposed business.

Converting to a single-stream program would not mean an increase in collection rates, he said.

Asked which is the most valuable scrap, Coyle said aluminum gets $1,600 a ton. But he said a lot of it is lost to scavengers who “know the route better than the drivers.”

The committee is allowed to propose five bills, and these requests must be in by summer.

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