OVERVIEW

The Republic Services Recycling Center has a Learning Center where you can schedule appointments to view the facility and explore the recycling process.

COST

Free

LOCATION

360 West Cheyenne

North Las Vegas, NV 89030

Note: Putting this address in my navigation took me a little too far down Cheyenne and we spent quite a bit of time being lost and confused about where to go. The entrance to the recycling center is off of Commerce St, just north of the intersection of Commerce and Cheyenne. So when you exit I-15 onto Cheyenne, turn right at the Commerce light. It’s really not difficult to find, I was just relying too heavily on my navigation and missed the big sign on the wall.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

The Republic Services Recycling Center is the destination of all our recycling in the blue lid containers that is picked up by the big trucks. The Learning Center is a room in the recycling center with a replica of a truck, some educational displays, windows to view the machinery and video feeds of the different parts of the process. There is also an enclosed observation deck/glass room up above the machinery that gives a great view of everything going on. They host meetings and field trips there. It is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 4:30, by appointment only. To schedule an appointment, you email the Learning Center (see link below). I took my 2 and 4-year-old for a little field trip. The official tour is intended for ages 5 and up, so we didn’t get the full deal, but they gave us 30 minutes to look around and the host was there to explain things and answer questions.

WHAT TO TAKE

We had been learning about recycling for homeschool preschool for the past week, so we brought a sack of things Kyler had found the recycling symbol on (water bottles, a can, a milk jug). He was so proud to show the host what we had brought. There are recycling bins in the Learning Center to put anything you bring.

It didn’t occur to me at all that it would be SO LOUD in the recycling center! There is no noise in the Learning Center (the glass window wall must be sound proof, I think) and the glass observation deck is the same, no noise. The walk from the Learning Center to the observation deck was very noisy. It wasn’t too terribly loud for me, but my kids both had their hands over their ears as we went on the walk up the stairs. If we go back I will take our ear protection headphones so we can actually stop on the walkway and look and the interesting machines, instead of being worried about all the noise.

OUR EXPERIENCE

I emailed the learning center one morning, asking for a time for an appointment and giving my availability. I heard back within the hour, probably within 30 minutes, offering an appointment for the following week, which I took. It was about a 25-minute drive from my house. The navigation threw us off a little, I ended up at the building nextdoor, and then at the trash place across the street. So we were a little late, but made it there. We walked in and the guy met us in there. We sat in the mock-up of the truck and pushed all the buttons. We went up to the observation deck and learned about the process and all of the parts of the plant. We were given coloring books and we recycled the items we brought with us.

WHAT WE LIKED

It was a really fun experience to be able to see the things we had read about in books. The host was very informative and met my 4-year-old at his level. One of my favorite parts was all the things I learned. Did you know that it’s important to recycle bottles with the lids ON? He also told us about how much trash gets sent as recycling, and we saw it being hauled out. (Don’t put diapers in recycling, please!)

WHAT WE DIDN’T LIKE

Nothing not to like here! Well, the trash dump was pretty stinky, when we were lost and drove over there… hah!

WILL WE GO AGAIN

I’d like to go again when Kyler is 5, maybe with a group of kids, to see what the full “field trip” experience is like.

LINK

http://vegasrecyclingcenter.com