New trash, recycling bins rolling into the city of Las Vegas

New trash and recycling carts are moving into the city of Las Vegas.

Republic Services of Southern Nevada, the waste-management company that handles residential trash in the city and all other Southern Nevada municipalities, is implementing single-stream recycling.

Each single-family home will receive one free trash cart and one free recycling cart, starting in northwest Las Vegas. Customers can also get a third, free cart. If they need a fourth cart, regular monthly rental fees apply.

“We’ve got 165,000 homes to do in the city,” said Jim Rankin, general manager of Republic Services of Southern Nevada’s Cheyenne hauling division. “Probably 75 to 80 percent of customers will get the 95-gallon carts. But there are some neighborhoods that just don’t generate that much trash or they have really small garages … so they’ll get the 65-gallon bins. Some people will ask for the 35-gallon bins.”

The single-stream program allows users to throw different types of recyclables, like soda cans, plastic bottles and newspapers, all into one bin, instead of having separate bins for each type of material.

“The goal is to reduce the volume of trash going into our landfill,” Rankin said. “The easier you make recycling, the more participation you have. So going to that one container and putting everything in there … it really works.”

The program also means a change in service to once-a-week trash pickup, once-a-week recycling pickup and every-other-week bulky-item pickup.

“It does take a little bit to get used to it,” Rankin said. “But it causes you to really realize how much material doesn’t need to go into the trash.”

Since the city of Las Vegas is the last municipality to get single-stream recycling, Rankin said he and his team have learned a few lessons to make the transition as smooth as possible for customers.

“The biggest thing we learned is how to make sure the customer gets the information,” Rankin said.

Customers will get a postcard in the mail about a month before their residence is scheduled to get new bins, explaining the schedule of new services and what can and cannot be recycled.

That same information will also be on the cart itself.

Republic Services also has a mobile app called My Resource that allows customers to check their pickup schedule or report a missed pickup, among other services.

“Everybody will be done by the end of next year,” Rankin said. “Be patient. We’ll get there.”

Contact Nicole Raz at nraz@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512. Follow @JournalistNikki on Twitter.