The Rebel Recycling program — which provides campus with comprehensive waste reduction recycling, and resource management — recently received critical funding from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) to revitalize its longstanding Drive Up and Drop Off (DUDO) community recycling program. 

Many Las Vegas residents who live in multi-family housing units, such as apartments, have no direct access to recycling. Tara Pike, sustainability and recycling manager for Facilities Management, started DUDO in October 1998 to solve this issue.

The service is one of UNLV’s best-kept secrets, Pike says, but that won’t last long. “The grant will catalyze getting the word out on the DUDO program,” Pike says.

The grant will be used to collaborate with the UNLV Paint Shop to repaint eight dumpsters used for the program and create new signage that can be placed in areas where DUDO is available. Additional funding will be allocated for ad promotions and community outreach to increase the program’s impact and reach. 

Rebel Recycling History

Pike has promoted sustainable practices on campus for over three decades. She had no idea Rebel Recycling would take hold as a culture-changer at UNLV and grow into a service that benefits the entire Las Vegas community.

Under the advice of the late biologist and environmentalist James Deacon, Pike joined the UNLV environmental studies program in 1991, becoming the second student to enroll. She credits Deacon, who helped found the environmental studies program, with inspiring her to “think globally and act locally” when it came to the environmental issues she was passionate about. With this in mind, her undergraduate thesis pondered the implementation of recycling on campus. 

After a 10-minute presentation to the Board of Regents, initial funding was granted and Rebel Recycling was created in February 1995. “For years following, I was the only full-time employee at Rebel Recycling,” Pike says. 

She spent the first two years on a one-woman outreach mission to educate students, faculty, and staff on recycling and the benefits of sustainability. Starting in March 1997 and continuing through the early years of the program, Pike and a few hard-working student employees bustled in and out of buildings with as much cardboard and paper as their carts could safely bear. In the days of faxes and overprinting, the tiny but mighty Rebel Recycling team wrangled and sorted nearly two tons of paper materials daily. 

Rebel Recycling and NDEP have a long history of impactful collaborations. In 1998, a grant from NDEP was used to purchase the dumpsters the DUDO program still uses today. Also, Rebel Recycling’s first assistant manager position was paid for by another NDEP grant in the early 2000s.

“NDEP was able to fund my first long-term employee, and we began to make strides with the program and our student workers. They have been an important community partner,” Pike says. 

Serving the Campus' Neighbors

Building a web of community partnerships has been a longstanding goal of Rebel Recycling. Pike’s next goal is to increase awareness of DUDO within the neighboring communities. “We want residents of nearby apartments to know that they have a recycling solution with Rebel Recycling and the DUDO program,” she says. 

The public can use the DUDO dumpsters year-round. “In a 24-hour city, we want to be inclusive and provide people with access to recycling when their schedules permit,” Tara says. 

A diverse group has been utilizing DUDO, including a few nearby small businesses. During the first month of the year, nearly four tons of materials were recycled through DUDO.

The steady flow of recycling keeps members of the Rebel Recycling team Yahsin Armstrong, Frank Miranda, and Hamilton McKinnon working hard to empty the dumpsters. The team is helping to empower the greater Las Vegas community to live more sustainably. 

So, whenever your sorting bins are full at home, feel free to drive up and drop off your recyclables in the assigned dumpster at the DUDO station located outside of the Rebel Recycling facilities (located next to the Stan Fulton Building).

Visit the DUDO website for a list of acceptable recycling and additional information.