Slowly but surely, the town recycling program approved by the Pahrump Town Board in August 2007 is taking shape.

The program OK'd by the board, aided by Pahrump Valley Disposal, uses a materials recovery facility -- MRF, or "murph" -- at which all trash is sorted through for recyclables.

The materials are then shipped outside the area.

One of the many advantages to the "dirty murph" system is that is allows everyone to participate while extending minimal effort. But a "murph" facility isn't built overnight.

John Shea, vice president of PVD, said he's spent the last few months meeting with builders and engineers, working out traffic flow designs and attempting to get an estimate on the total cost.

So far he's guessing the facility will cost around $30,000.

In addition, Shea said shortly after the program was approved by the town board, it expanded in scope because the county expressed interest in taking it countywide. That means that even people who are not PVD customers could have their trash recycled as well.

"The nice part about it is you get 100 percent participation," Shea said.

He pointed out that even with curbside recycling programs, such as the one in Las Vegas where colored bins of recyclables are put out with their trash, there is still only about a 75 percent participation rate.

Changes in technology also result in changes in recycling needs, a problem that Shea said is avoided with the "dirty murph" program.

"You don't get people frustrated because they're changing (the rules) again," Shea said. "You don't have to re-educate them about what goes where."

The new program is also the reason PVD has not expanded the town's recycling program, which consists of recycle bins at Wal-Mart and at the company's main site near the county landfill.

"The direction the town board gave us was to look into a 'dirty murph,' and we didn't want to entrench the town in a non-compatible system," Shea said.

Current PVD customers will see a slight rise in their garbage bill as a result of the system, which Shea estimated could go up to $1.91, but that's not a final number.