Article Portrays Las Vegas Recycling Turnaround

An article in the Las Vegas Weekly newspaper portrays the recent wave of recycling and landfill diversion activity that has occurred along the famous Las Vegas Strip of casinos and hotels.

Managing Editor Ken Miller gathered information from MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment—two of the largest property owners along the Strip—as well as Republic Services.

“The same place that’s a symbol of excess the world over, the stretch most of us zoom by on I-15 marveling at its sheer indulgence, has a dirty little secret: Gamblers are still losing shirts, partiers are still forgetting the night before, tourists are still looking for an Elvis to pose with and pit bosses are still protecting the bottom line. But today, when they trash a beer can or chuck a water bottle, someone’s fishing it out and sending it off for a second life,” writes Miller.

An MGM Resorts manager indicates that the chain now recycles 33 percent of the waste or scrap it generates, while the figure for CityCenter properties is 55 percent.

Among the materials being diverted are plastic, glass, aluminum, cardboard, cooking oil, uneaten food and “unused resources from conventions.” (After a convention is concluded, leftovers such as pens, papers, pads and tote bags are given to local schools.)

The recycling activity, the article indicates, has only started occurring in the past few years The article provides tonnage figures for both MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment, as well as figures attached to Republic Services’ Las Vegas area residential recycling programs.

The Las Vegas Weekly story also portrays the role of employee education and training in recycling efforts, especially hotel and resort loading dock areas. The construction of CityCenter as it strived for LEED certification (Read more about this project at The Green Standard) is mentioned as having played a pivotal role in turning on the “green light.”

The entire article can be found by clicking on the following link -- Las Vegas Recycling Las Vegas Recycling Successes.