Photo: Lawrence Grijalva and Dominic Duran complete the installation of a new sign identifying the recycling center at Southwest Solid Waste Authority. The sign was designed and painted by students at Aldo Leopold High School.

(Silver City, NM, 27 March, 2014) Residents and businesses in the Town of Silver City continue to make progress in recycling according to an analysis by the Office of Sustainability. Data from Southwest Solid Waste Authority (SWSWA) and local businesses indicates that the town has now achieved a 25% recycling rate compared to 22% a year ago. According to a recent report by the Environmental Protection Agency the nationwide recycling rate has remained flat for the past few years at about 34%.

A significant portion of this increase was attributable to more recycling by residents using their curbside bins. A 50% increase in recycling to over 450 tons has kept the recycling crews of SWSWA very busy. They are responsible for collecting both residential and commercial recycling in all of Grant County. The only commercial recycling they don't collect is what the major stores send back to their processing centers when they get deliveries.

Another big increase of 46% has been in the amount of electronics recycled since that is available at the landfill and through the curbside program. Last year over 21 tons was picked up by Unicor which is a nationally certified processor of electronic waste. They will take any sort of electrical or battery operated device and recycle all the components of it. They have what is termed a zero waste philosophy in that nothing goes into the landfill, it is all recycled.

Silver City town manager Alex Brown is pleased to see the continued increases in recycling in the town. As chairman of the board for SWSWA, he will continue to work with Grant County and other municipalities to improve recycling rates county-wide.