LAS CRUCES, N.M. –– Las Cruces has 40 thousand residential recycle bins within the city limits, but are recycling efforts good enough within the county?
Every day, trucks make up to eight trips carrying Las Cruces garbage to a landfill in El Paso.
“[For waste] You only have two options, either you recycle it or you bury it,” Recycle Education Coordinator Brandi Arguello said. “So diverting any kind of waste from going into the landfill and being buried is definitely a good thing.”
Residential recycling is successful because everyone has a blue bin, but it’s a different story for businesses according to Arguello.
“Paper, plastic, aluminum and cardboard,” Arguello said. “A lot of businesses have their product packaged in cardboard, so that’s definitely a big one.”
Restaurants especially have a hard time recycling. They use plastics, cardboard and styrofoam, which cannot be recycled because of food contamination.
Rolando Galvan has managed and owned Miguel’s restaurant for over five years and recycling cost him up to $150 a month.
“We did it for a while, but we just can’t afford it,” Galvan said. “So we just rent the dumpster, put the stuff in the dumpster and off it goes.”
The dumpster cost only $100 a month, saving Galvan $50.
New Mexico has fewer recycling centers compared to other states and until the state receives more, Arguello believes recycling will not be a priority.
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