A First Look Inside the Southern Nevada Recycling Center
By Melinda Sheckells
Originally Published on Vegas Seven
North Las Vegas receives the crown jewel of the recycling world on November 12 when Republic Services opens the country’s largest and most advanced residential center dedicated to the reuse of paper, plastic, glass and metal. The Southern Nevada Recycling Center, West Cheyenne Road, offers the public a chance to understand what happens to these products once they leave the bin via an interactive learning center and tours of the plant. Len Christopher, general manager of Republic Services, shares a first look at the privately funded $35 million facility.
Getting smarter
At 110,000 square feet, this center can process 70 tons of garbage in an hour using the most advanced equipment available, including optical sorters that scan by category, type, color and density, creating a clean end product without any fine organic matter. The building itself also has solar panels so it will be able to generate a portion of its own power.
“Where’s my blue bin?”
“Everyone asks me when they find out I work for a recycling company, ‘When am I getting automated?’—meaning, ‘When will I have one bin for all my recyclables? When do we get rid of the old three-bin system?’ The answer is: We had to build this [facility] to be able to handle the volume. The City of North Las Vegas and the City of Henderson are on the automated system, about 165,000 homes. In Clark County, we have some pilot programs,” Christopher says.
