The days of the red, white, and blue recycling baskets are numbered in Las Vegas. 聽The city is the last municipality in the valley to switch over to single stream recycling, so the distribution of new trash and recycling carts has taken place this month.
Other cities including Henderson, North Las Vegas, and parts of Clark County already offer the service.聽 Since coming into an agreement with Republic Services in April, the waste disposal company has been handing out blue carts: One for trash; the other for recycling.
“It would be a lot easier with the big cans,” said Igor, resident waiting for recycling carts.
Switching over to single-stream recycling also means pick up’s are once a week instead of twice. This concerns Igor.
“I don’t know if I agree with them doing them once a week,” Igor said.
Two different trucks will come by on the same day, one to pick trash and the other to pick up recyclables.聽 Then every other week Republic Services will do what they call a bulk-pick up for miscellaneous or bigger items.
“So, we’re still seeing customers five times in two weeks and removing every bit of debris that they present to us to collect,” said Jim Rankin, Republic Services.
Most customers will get 95-gallon carts, but there are three sizes available: A 65 and a 35-gallon bin.
“Some areas we know don’t provide that much trash or recycling in the normal service day, so we’ll offer them the small carts, to begin with,” Rankin said.
Residents still waiting for their new carts will get a notice in the mail but, they don’t have to do much else.聽 Each cart will be labeled with the do’s and don’ts on single-stream recycling.
“We increased our volume of recycling about four to five hundred percent which is really what we’re trying to establish in the community as a better participation of recycling,” said Rankin.
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