Pressed for time

Sparks fly as crews cut off large, metal nubs in the floor of the pit of the South Central Solid Waste Authority (SCSWA) Amador Avenue Transfer Station. With a line of trash trucks stretching past the Las Cruces Utilities Water Quality Laboratory and concrete still drying on the floor of the transfer station, it was a high-speed turnover to switch out the 23-year-old trash compactor for a new unit weighing 130,000 pounds, with a price tag of $1.9 million. Every day, the transfer station sends 30 18-wheelers, each hauling 20 tons of trash, to the Corralitos Regional Landfill, located 15 miles west of Las Cruces alongside I-10.