Solid waste (garbage) collection is handled by the City’s Public Works Department. The operation includes one residential collection truck and two commercial collection trucks along with the composting facility and landfill. Until 1998, garbage generated in the community was deposited in an old-style landfill located six miles east of West Wendover in Tooele County, Utah. Due to environmental regulations, this facility was closed and capped and construction of a new landfill facility by the City began six miles south of the existing city limits. Along with the construction of the new landfill, the City of West Wendover also undertook the construction of a state-of-the-art compost facility, which is adjacent to the water reclamation facility. The compost facility accepts up to 25 tons a day of garbage. This garbage is then mechanically sorted and combined with up to 5 tons a day of biosolids generated by the wastewater reclamation facility. This mix is then entered into a composting process. The end result is 14 tons a day of compost material with 6 tons a day of non-compostables such as glass and construction debris, which is delivered to the landfill. When combining the processes of the water reclamation facility, the compost plant and the new landfill, the City of West Wendover takes the lead for small rural communities by being over 70% recyclable while providing our desert community with a real in-need product for city beautification and development; compost. With composting and the ability to recycle wastewater, which is used for public landscape areas such as the Toana Vista Golf Course, we are able to transform an otherwise dry desert soil into a “greener” community.

In addition to the normal operations of solid waste collection, the City also promotes and operates recycling programs such as the Keep West Wendover Beautiful Program operated by the City’s Community Development Department and the Residential Recycle Program operated by the Public Works Department which have a goal of increasing awareness of environmental protection, recycling and community beautification.