New Mexico is the fifth largest state in the U.S. with 121,589 square miles, but is ranked 36th in population at just over 2 million people. This demographic reality - 16 people per square mile - creates a highly dispersed population outside of the few urban areas such as Albuquerque and Las Cruces. In 2007, the State of New Mexico initiated a review of its statewide solid waste plan, last updated a decade ago. The 1997 plan followed the lead of many other state planning efforts and called for aggressive numeric diversion goals tied to even more aggressive timelines. For example, the plan called for an ambitious 50-percent diversion level by 2000. As of 2007, the state had calculated a diversion rate of just over 8 percent with almost no resources available to support even a modest increase, let alone achieving the plan's target of 50 percent.
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