By VERNON ROBISON
Moapa Valley Progress
Gone are the days of Moapa Valley residents having to carefully separate out their recyclables and place them into way-too-small plastic red, white and blue bins. Gone are the days of second-guessing on which week is recycling pickup in a confusing every-other-week schedule.
Regional trash disposal company Republic Services is now bringing its Enhanced Recycling Program to the Moapa Valley communities. And it is expected to be much simpler for local residents.
Beginning on Saturday Republic Services crews began delivering new 95 gallon blue containers to every residence in the Moapa and Moapa Valley communities. The darker blue container is to be used for trash; the lighter blue for recycling.
The new containers are being provided completely free as part of the program, explained Republic Services representative Stephen DeStefano in a presentation last week to the Moapa Valley Town Advisory Board (MVTAB). Those who are currently renting trash containers will see that charge removed from their monthly bill, he said.
DeStefano explained that the trash day schedules would not be changed. Whichever day trash is currently picked up, that will continue.
But the recycling schedule would be completely different. Instead of once every other week, recycling trucks would be coming around weekly on a schedule of Monday, Tuesdays and Wednesday, depending on the neighborhood.
“Your specific recycle day appeared on the letter that we sent out a couple of weeks ago,” DeStefano said. “But if you forget, you can go to our website or call us to get that information.”
DeStefano said that the program accepts a wide variety of recycled material including cardboard, newspaper, magazines, standard paper, phone books, aluminum and steel cans, plastic bottles, glass bottles and more. They will not accept styrofoam, which should be considered as trash, he said.
The good news is that, with the new program, there is no need to sort all of the different materials.
“You can just throw everything together into the recycle container,” DeStefano said.
Members of the public asked a string of questions about the new program.
One of these questions was whether local residents could continue to use their own trash cans in addition to the new containers. DeStefano said that they could.
“Our automated lift trucks are not going to be brought out here for trash at this point,” DeStefano said. “So you can still use your old trash cans if you’d like. But the recycle program will be using the automated trucks so the recycle will be taken in the new containers.”
DeStefano pointed out that if residents find they need more than one container for their trash needs, they can just call the Republic Service office to request that another container be brought out to them. This could be done after the initial delivery is made, he said. Additional containers would also not involve an additional charge to the customer.
MVTAB member Mike Otero asked why residents should participate in the new recycle program.
“First of all you don’t have to,” DeStefano responded. “It is not mandatory in Nevada like it is in some other states.”
But he added that recycling was a responsible thing to do for the environment.
“The reason to do it is because it is the right thing to do,” DeStefano said.
DeStefano stressed that the new program won’t limit the ability to dispose of anything that customers have been able to put out in the trash before. That includes items that may not fit in the containers like mattresses, tree limbs or appliances.
In addition, the new program would not affect the once a month trash day for large items at the dump site north of Logandale. That service will continue on the first Saturday of every month as it has been, DeStefano said.
