I t appears that the current state of waste management in Nevada leaves much room for improvement - not because it is not safe, but because it is wasteful. We have plenty of landfill space, and the landfills are well designed and operated. The data indicate that Nevada not only generates much more municipal waste than the national average, but that we recycle less. The result is that we discard approximately 3 times more per person than the national average. To address this problem the NDEP will focus efforts on Clark County.
Potential improvement is greatest here.
Further, the solid waste management plan adopted by the Clark County Health District in 1995 already made several recommendations to improve recycling. During its current 5-year revision of this plan, however, the Health District has recognized that virtually none of those recommendations were implemented. This appears to be due to the fact that the Health District, as the regulatory agency, is not responsible for directly managing waste. That responsibility lies with each City and County and is typically carried out through franchise agreements. We hope to begin an open dialogue with stakeholders that will establish a sound foundation for this issue with factual information and allow an opportunity to explore economic incentives and other measures that will help achieve a mutual goal.