Carson City getting single-stream recycling

Carson City’s garbage collector talked some trash on Wednesday, but recycling was the main topic of discussion.

Carson City recently awarded a 15-year trash collection contract to Waste Management of Nevada. Waste Management is the city’s current contractor, but the new contract, starting in July, will offer new services and rates.

The new contract offers single-stream recycling — paper, plastic, and glass collected in a single container. Pick up will be every other week, alternating weeks with another new twice-monthly service, yard waste recycling.

Kendra Kostelecky, communications specialist, Waste Management, told attendees at the Carson City Chamber of Commerce’s monthly luncheon in the Gold Dust West recycling has become more difficult, and expensive, in the last few years.

China, which took much of the world’s recyclables, started restricting items in 2017 and starting in 2020 will no longer take any plastic.

“That’s why you’re seeing smaller municipalities really struggling with recycling,” said Kostelecky.

She said it’s important to recycle the right items in the correct way so as not to contaminate the process.

Recyclables include plastic and glass bottles and containers, which shouldn’t contain any liquid when disposed of; paper and cardboard, which can’t include shredded paper; and clean tin and aluminum cans.

Items that can’t be recycled include plastic bags, styrofoam products, diapers or pet waste, and electronics or batteries.

Residents, as part of their service, can receive up to three, wheeled containers — one for garbage, collected weekly, and one each for recyclables and yard waste.

Yard waste is essentially green waste — grass, leaves and small branches, or tumbleweeds — and not soil, rocks, pet waste or any inorganic material.

“Anything that Mother Nature has produced in your yard except for a couple of things,” said Cody Witt, Northern Nevada manager, Full Circle Soils & Compost.

The green waste will be turned into several composting products sold by Full Circle at Greenhouse Garden Center and elsewhere.

Starting in July, trash collection will be mandatory, unless residents provide receipts proving they hauled their garbage to the landfill.

That’s common for cities as large as Carson City, and helps reduce rates, said Kostelecky.

“It is unusual to not have mandatory service in a community this large,” she said. “It spreads out the cost and makes rates more affordable.”

The new rates for most residents will be $17.59 a month, and include garbage pickup and recycling as well as pickups of holiday trees and bulk waste, such as couches or mattresses, that can be scheduled four times a year.