Waste Disposal

Goal 3: Ensure Environmentally Sound Disposal

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) wants businesses and communities to succeed in Nevada, and to be a resource for supporting both to do so through smart, sustainable disposal and recycling practices. NDEP permits and inspects facilities that manage solid and hazardous waste to ensure that material disposal is managed in an environmentally sound manner. This is possible through inspections and increased education for facilities that do not routinely pass inspections.

This model is set to take on a new level of importance as sustainability takes center stage of materials management — becoming sustainable materials management. More facilities will be encouraged to process recyclable materials, facilities that will need to be regulated to ensure that they, too, are processing and managing their materials in an environmentally sound manner. NDEP will use research to determine how best to manage these facilities moving forward, and it will gather additional research on implementing sustainable practices into recycling and waste facilities.

The end goal: to reduce the amount of waste that Nevada generates while providing new job opportunities for the public, something that will affect all current and future waste facilities that NDEP regulates. It will also affect communities, businesses, health districts, and entities who manage waste, which will have an increased awareness of NDEP’s presence. Many municipalities are under pressure to recycle, but it is not always feasible to enact sustainability programs due to high costs. NDEP plans to raise awareness about successful sustainability programs throughout Nevada, focusing on finding solutions for areas of the state where sustainability has been difficult to envision in the past.