LAS VEGAS -- Green is the color of the day. It's also the color of choice for a local Latino family who is debuting a new recycling facility in northeast Las Vegas.
Manuel Madrigal started in the trash business in 1967. They recycle wood, cardboard, metal, plastic, basically anything you can recycle. He moved into recycling in the late 90's, and Friday debuted this new building and facility to recycle construction and demolition products.
His sons run the operation now.
"The conveyor belt actually starts to separate out the materials, so when it lands on the picking line where the personnel will be. Everybody has their task to pull out one type of commodity whether it's plastic, metal, carpet padding, whatever that may be," said Norberto Madrigal with Lunas Recycling.
From there, it goes all over the world.
"We make mulch from the wood, the metal is going to California then to China, cardboard is going to California, plastic is going to California," said Manuel Madrigal.
Today is about more than going green -- it's a victory for the Madrigal family and the Latino community.
"On the news, you only hear about the Hispanic community taking and taking, but that's not the case -- we give a lot. They employ 100 people, they pay taxes, they are a company that are providing a service that is important for this community and the world," said Otto Merida, President of the Latin Chamber of Commerce.
Once the construction industry tanked in the recession, Madrigal had to lay off more than half of his staff. Now, he's rehiring some of them back 20 at a time.
