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Recycling bins are seen on a curb in Anthem on Tuesday, July 26, 2011.
By Conor Shine (contact) 
Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013 | 2 a.m.
Sun archives
Clark County commissioners agree they’d like to see more recycling in the unincorporated parts of the county. With only about 3 percent of recyclable materials from residents in those areas currently finding their way into the red, white and blue bins, there’s lots of room for improvement.
What commissioners can’t agree on is how to boost residential recycling, which has been the subject of numerous reviews, studies and committees over the past eight years.
Over the next several weeks, the recycling debate will be back on the agenda for commissioners, who will consider an option that they’ve passed on before — single-stream recycling.
According to Republic Services, the county’s trash franchisee, single-stream recycling programs in Henderson and North Las Vegas have led to sixfold increases in recycling rates, from the low single digits to around 25 percent. Las Vegas has not switched to single-stream recycling, although about 12,500 homes are testing it as part of a pilot program.
The switch from individual bins for glass, paper and cans to one large cart for all recyclables eliminates sorting and makes recycling easier for residents. It would not result in a rate increase, but it does come with a trade-off — fewer days of trash pickup.
Under a single-stream recycling ordinance that will be introduced at today’s commission meeting, trash would be picked up once a week, down from twice weekly, and recycling would be picked up weekly instead of biweekly. The ordinance also would allow for one biweekly pickup of bulky items that don’t fit in trash carts.
Any savings resulting from the switch to single-stream recycling would be reinvested in Republic Services' fleet, which needs $20 million to upgrade to trucks capable of lifting the single-stream cart, said Bob Coyle, the company’s vice president of government affairs. An additional $10 million would be spent on new trash and recycling carts, which would be provided to residents free of charge, he said.
Public hearings for the ordinance, which would require Republic to have the program going throughout the county by 2017, likely will be at the Feb. 5 commission meeting, at which time commissioners could take action on the plan.
Commissioner Tom Collins said he planned to support the recycling ordinance and was hopeful it would be approved this time.
“I used to be more concerned about the loss of the other trash pickup, but as I’ve looked at the progress they’ve made with the containers and with the pickup system, it means less noise, less trips,” Collins said. “We’re going to have more efficient pickup and sorting, and it will increase our recycling rates.”
Commissioner Steve Sisolak, who is introducing the ordinance, said it’s time for the county to take action to address “abysmal” recycling rates in the area.
“Some of this stuff has been lingering before the commission for years. We’ve had study committees. We’ve had work groups,” said Sisolak, who has used the single-stream recycling carts and thinks they would benefit residents. “At some point, to be fair to the company and the citizens, I think you just need to take action. We need to introduce the ordinance and vote on it one way or the other.”
The strongest opposition on the board to the single-stream recycling ordinance likely will come from Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani, who said she supports efforts to expand recycling in the county but opposes losing a day of trash pickup.
“I absolutely don’t agree, and our constituents tend to not agree with losing something that we’re guaranteed under the franchise agreement,” Giunchigliani said of the twice-weekly trash pickups Republic is now required to offer county residents. “You don’t get to amend the franchise agreement to reduce services.”
Giunchigliani said she wants to see Republic prove its case with facts and figures that the single-stream program increased recycling participation.
“Nobody has proved to me that there’s actually been recycling. They claim to have numbers, but I’m going to do my analysis and double-check that,” she said. “They haven’t proved the cost savings; they haven’t proved what the benefit to us is.”
It sure would be nice if Republic Services would pick up recycling on the days they're supposed to. It would also be nice if Customer Service would take calls after 5 PM when i get home and see my neighnborhood's recycling bins weren't picked up.
Single stream? that's what its called? Yea, thats a no brainier. Its crazy, they want you to separate, then when the truck comes its all dumped into one bin. great. Ive had them give me a hard time if i put everything into one large ( blue ) recycle can, because our area is not approved for that. If i were to recycle everything their way I would need 6 to 8 of those colored bins.
I have a home in Pahrump also. Lots of my LV recycling ends up in Pahrump - because they do it right.
No curbside recycling there. Just two very large truck garbage containers, parked in the Wal-Mart parking lot, that anyone, at anytime can come and dump the recycling. Those two containers are constantly filled, removed - replaced.
After 5 years of this I have NOT ONCE seen trash thrown in there. just pure recycling.
Its totally convenient. Go to the store, bring your recycling to dump. easy.
And their arnt people digging threw it, like at my LV home at 4am.
We need a few points in this city that we are able to do that. The one N.LV location just doesn't cut it.
This may seem trivial, but I thought I'd pass it along.
We moved here from California, where the single-bin for recycling was common. Shortly after moving here, my neighborhood was selected for Republic's test of a similar system and I was happy.
However, after about a year Republic sent me a letter explaining how the grease spots on a pizza box were harming their efforts, and they asked me to cut out those areas before recycling a simple pizza box. Couple that with the fact that the (black) trash bins were picked up early in the day while the (blue) recycle bins sat around until very late in the day. (Republic had promised both bins would be picked up at the same time.)
The "Pizza Box Caper" turned me off on the recycle program and I haven't done it since.
I now live in a Vegas neighborhood that is out from under the test program and couldn't be happier.
As I said, it's trite. However, politically correct recycling of a pizza box that is of value only to Republic is not on my list of priorities.
The fact that people here can't be bothered to do this little bit says a lot about the whole mind-set of the Las Vegas population.
We have recycled all kinds of cardboard through the current program for years without receiving a letter. When the cardboard goes into the recycling truck it is impossible to know from where it originated. This makes John Crumpley's post suspect.
I refuse to recycle until the City of Las Vegas moves to one large recycle bin instead of three small boxes that blow trash around the neighborhood as well as the little bins themselves if one isn't home right away to bring them in. Additionally, the three bins are too heavy for many to carry out to the street. If you want people to recycle, make it a bit easier for them to do so.
A commenter has again labeled a fellow commenter a liar, as this commenter has done often when anyone disagrees with his view of the world. This personal attack should not be allowed as part of an elevated discussion.
Since this behavior is repeatedly tolerated by the moderator, I conclude either he always agrees with the commenter, which means he is biased, or he is negligent in his job duties or the commenter's behavior is condoned by Sun management. All are a blight on this forum.
I live in both Seattle and Las Vegas, Seattle has the single program and it works great with a 54% recycling program. Sure hope we get to this in Vegas.
Who receives the money from recycling??
I surely do not see a credit on my Republic bill.
When I can put all my recycling in 1 bin and the
recycle truck follows the trash pick-up truck I
will "get with the program".
@JohnCrumley: yes, you are being trivial. Republic was just making you aware of an issue that affects their recycling program. You get scolded and all of a sudden you sit in a corner with a temper tantrum and refuse to participate. Please! Grow up. If you don't want to recycle a greasy pizza box throw it in the trash.
This isn't Republics' Earth. It belongs to us, our children and grandchildren. We only have one. Picking up your garbage 2x a week may seem like a huge deal now, but it pales in comparison to when the landfill is full to the brim and rates start skyrocketing.
We are truly our own worst enemy.
"...Have the program going by 2017"!!!
That's 4 YEARS from today! Way to long of a timeline for something that's already being done around the world and the next state over. More studies don't need to be done for goodness sake. It's recyclable materials and a 30 drum garbage can. Just dump the bins on the curb of homes and tell residents we'll pick up both once a week.
Bureaucrats make everything so complicated and Commissioner Chris is just a lost cause. The only one who gets it is Steve Sisolak.
My neighborhood was part of the original pilot program for single stream recycling. The Republic truck driver told me the recycling tonnage increased three fold within the first month of introduction of single stream.
I agree with thekube. Your excuse for not recycling is a greasy pizza box and different pick-up times for recycling and trash? Quit whining, put your big boy pants on and do what is right.
Hopefully the city of Vegas will follow this idea. Would love to have this in our area.
No matter what they do there will always be some that complain. That is the American way these days.
All this energy and resources to recycle most likely has a net negative effect on the environment.
We spend a ton of money, time and machines to recycle and the payback is tiny.
If we had an unbias group do a study on this without a political agenda then I am sure that is what they would say.
In the Chicago suburbs, where I lived for 60 years and recycled for the last 20 or so, trash cans were lifted by hand to be dumped into the back of the garbage truck. Recycling was mandatory. If they found obvious recyclable materials in your trash, they just left your trash without dumping it and went on to the next house. You soon learned your lesson. With the auto-lift system here, I don't know how that could be accomplished, but I do think there should be some way to make it mandatory to recycle. Filling our solid waste dumps with plastic, cans, glass, cardboard and paper is a SHAME. We recycle everything we can at our house in NLV, even toilet paper and paper towel tubes. It's surprising how much solid waste just these two items save annually from a city's usage.
Simple solution. If the citizens of the Las Vegas Valley cannot be simple stewards of their own environment, then no imported water from somebody else's environment.
If you don't want to "spend a ton of money, time and machines to recycle", then why should we do the same to quench your thirst?
SgtRock is correct, most recycling is not cost effective. It's become more of a feel good government mandate that forces the waste companies to hire more workers, which in turn cost us customers more each month.
I believe aluminum is one of the few materials to actually have any cost benefits.
http://news.discovery.com/tech/is-recycl...
It is amazing to me that people are resistant to recycling when our landfills just keep piling higher, and we need to preserve the earth for the future. Why is it that if the program imposes one bin rather than three, more people will participate? I do admit that the three bins are small, but to choose not to participate at all seems irrational. There is no difference in throwing a soda can in the trash than throwing it in a bin. You have to walk out to the street anyways with your trash can, so at the most, recycling makes it one extra trip. In some states recycling is mandatory, it should be here.
I've noticed that here in Henderson, my recycle trash can gets filled with junk from God knows where. Since I'm single, my can is always half empty, and then gets filled up. If I ever get a notice that my trash can had unacceptable waste, I will tell them where to stick it-and it ain't where the sun shines.
The City Of Henderson let Republic Services get out of picking up cans in alleyways in September 2012 then all of the sudden recycling started at the street curb.
I have seen Republic Service Truck Drivers take 30 minute breaks on my street with half of the trash/recycle pickups finished.
I like to recycle but it is very frustrating when the illegal s come around in the middle of the night and steal the glass and cans. They will take all the paper and card board and stick it in the trash to get to the good stuff!
People who don't like recycling are just lazy. WHen I lived in NLV, we recycled. We got more of the plastic bins that were needed for certain items, ie more for cans and plastic bottles, less for newspaper, catalogs. Because of the windy days, the "easy to blow away" stuff like the cans and plastic bottles we put into plastic bags to keep them together. Never had a complaint from Republic about that. Any boxes or large cardboard, we had to take the time to break down so they would fit tightly into the bins and not blow away. It's just making a little effort to do this. Because we HAD to recycle when living in CHicago, we already knew no food or food scraps in anything such as the "pizza box". That did go into the regular trash if it was too greasy or had too much food left on it.
What I think is more of a problem is that apartment complexes, both in Las Vegas and even where I live now, do not require recylcing. But again, you are dealing with people who could care less about recycling and won't bother to separate their garbage no matter how easy it is for them to do it. I've seen people throw into the dumpsters computer monitors, electronic devices - all of which are illegal to dump in the trash. Anywhere. Oh...and furniture!! But again - even if it was made easy for people to recycle, they won't do it because of laziness and being stupid.
Some retirement communities are on steep hills. A combination of slope, a container that is wider at the top than at the bottom, wind, age and physical condition of the customer particularly where one spouse has passed, the fact that some garages would require moving vehicles in order to get the container out of the garage, the longer the container sits in extreme heat the more health danger, the fact that the use of pesticides to control insets is another well known health hazard, is going to be yet another health and legal mess suggests that one size does not fit all.