Heller Companies Goes Green, Dumps Trash Bins
CATEGORIZED AS: Real Estate
Heller Companies, a Las Vegas-based commercial real estate development and management firm, has implemented a new strategy to deal with waste at several of its multi-tenant business parks, including Valley View Business Center, one of the largest multi-tenant office/industrial flex projects in Southern Nevada.
The Valley View Business Center development, located at South Valley View Blvd. and Sunset Road, has more than 554,000-square feet of office, showroom and warehouse space, which accommodates more than 200 tenants. Heller Companies principal Jay Heller estimates those tenants produce 2,784 cubic yards of refuse each month.
“We started to analyze ways of incorporating more green practices in our projects and realized that when companies normally think green, they tend to look towards energy efficiency and alternate sources of energy,” Heller said. “But there is equally as much green potential in recycling the materials we use on a daily basis.”
Wanting to leave less of a carbon footprint, Heller set out to correct the problem by adopting and implementing a waste management program for all of his company’s multi-tenant business centers. The program went into effect May 1.
To make the program work, Heller Companies enlisted the assistance of a local recycling company, NVCCU, which consulted with Heller throughout the changeover and supplied the necessary recycle-only bins. The new bins handle all waste material except food waste. Special bins are in place specifically to handle the food waste. The recyclable materials are all co-mingled in the bins and require no additional effort from the tenants to sort.
“As odd as it sounds only the food waste needs to be separated out, which in the entire facility is minimal,” Heller said. “All the co-mingled recyclables go to a special facility owned and operated by NVCCU, where they are then sorted, baled and sent off to be recycled.
“The majority of the waste generated at our developments are recyclable, material such as paper, cardboard, plastics, wood, etcetera, and previously it was all just going to the land fill. Now the majority of our trash is being recycled.”
Because the bins are twice the capacity of previous garbage bins, they are emptied less often, further decreasing the overall carbon footprint of the business park. It also means lower operating costs for Heller Companies, and ultimately the tenants.
“It’s a win-win situation. Everything about this initiative makes sense,” Heller said.
For more information on Valley View Business Center, or other Heller Companies projects, visit www.hellercompanies.com.









