Recycling services available for those living in apartment complexes, condos in Las Vegas valley

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Many if not all apartments or condos do not offer recycling services. When Las Vegas valley resident Jennifer Turchin wants to recycle she drives to the north part of town to drop off recycling items.

“You have to get your own bins, and you keep them on your porch or patio. You have to find storage and it starts to overflow,” Turchin explained. “Eventually you have to drive somewhere to take it and find out their hours, do they want it sorted do they want altogether like at home, so it becomes a bit of a chore.”

While she would like to see more units utilize recycling, she knows it isn’t an easy task.

“You need to know what to put in and the problem when we don’t know is we throw trash in the recycling and it causes more problems for the hauler,” Turchin said.

It’s a problem Tara Pike, the UNLV recycling manager knows all too well.

She started the recycling drop-off services in the late 1990s at UNLV to fix this issue but says more still needs to be done.

“The same situation is occurring that is occurring now which is access to recycling when you live in an apartment or condom is difficult as commercial properties they don’t have to provide recycling and a lot of times they don’t have the space to provide the recycle dumpster,” Pike said.

UNLV’s drive-up and drop-off location is the only kind in the valley, it’s open 24 hours a day and seven days a week, making it convenient for those who want to recycle.

The drop-off dumpsters are separated so you can recycle glass and corrugated cardboard like Amazon boxes. There’s also a comingle dumpster to recycle books, steel, aluminum cans and other items.

“People can just drive up and drop off their recycling and go on about their day,” Pike added. “I know a lot of people who live in apartments and condos use it, small businesses also use it.”

Now a new grant will revitalize their recycling program.

“Revitalizing means we’re gonna paint it, redo the signs to make it educational and with promotional just outreach to apartment managers, leasing companies and get them the collateral they need who are renting their apartments to get the word out that this exists,” Pike explained.

Pike and Turchin know it’s going to take the community and other agencies to implement recycling as a whole in multi-family homes and across the valley.

“I don’t think it the property management companies not knowing or thinking it’s not important, I think there should be a bigger push either an incentive,” Turchin said.

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