Sheboygan faces tough recycling decisions if state subsidy disappears

From an article in the Sheboygan Press:

Even if Gov. Scott Walker's plan to end state recycling payments to municipalities under his proposed budget, Sheboygan likely would continue to run its citywide recycling program.

"I don't see recycling going away," Mayor Bob Ryan said. "I think it's an environmentally responsible thing to do."

But without the $300,000 in recycling funds the city now gets from the state, Sheboygan officials say the loss of that money means they would have to make some big changes to keep the program operating.

"We'd probably want to take a look much more at the viability of recycling," said Bill Bittner, the city's public works director. "In other words, what materials do we get the most money for?"

Bittner said that could mean accepting fewer kinds of recyclables, and focusing on collecting items that are more valuable on the recycling market, such as aluminum and tin cans, corrugated cardboard, plastics and paper.

Piggly Wiggly, Compost Joe's join forces to 'go green'

From an article by Sharon Roznik in the Fond du Lac Reporter:

Piggly Wiggly is doing its part to lessen the burden on local landfills.

A recent partnership between the Fond du Lac grocery store and a local composting business is turning rotten produce into recycled, saleable material.

Three times a week Compost Joe's Premium Soils & Organics LLC picks up recycling bins full of overripe and rotten produce from Piggly Wiggly on Johnson Street and hauls it to its 88-acre yard-waste site in Van Dyne to begin the process of turning garbage into 100 percent organic compost.

It is the first food composting pilot project in Fond du Lac County, said David Misterek, solid waste management specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

"This is something that we highly promote. If we can recycle or add to the materials we reuse, it's a win-win situation for everyone," he said.

Since the recycling effort began back in June, Piggly Wiggly has donated more than 10,000 pounds of produce waste to the cause.

"That's 10,000 pounds that would have otherwise gone into a landfill," said produce manager Tammy Guelig.

Green is gold at Lambeau

From an article by Don Walker in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Green Bay — As the last group of fans walked out of Lambeau Field on a Sunday afternoon, the iconic seating bowl looked more like a landfill than the home of the Green Bay Packers.

It was quite a collection the 70,000 or more football fans left behind. Paper cups, plastic beer bottles, straws, plastic drink tops, leftover food, some glass, peanuts, wrappers, game programs, pizza boxes, assorted paper, nacho baskets, even cell phones were scattered about on the concrete floor of each row from top to bottom.

A few hours after the game, as many as 70 volunteers, wearing latex gloves and carrying plastic bags, worked their way around the seating bowl, picking up and bagging plastic bottles and paper that can be recycled.

Each bag was filled three-quarters of the way until another volunteer took the bag and carried it into the stadium concourses where it was loaded on a truck to be taken away to a transfer station and, eventually, a Waste Management recycling center in Germantown.

After that, another crew arrived to pick up the waste. On most game days, the work is not done until 9 p.m.

The effort to recycle and employ other so-called green initiatives throughout Lambeau Field - as well as Miller Park in Milwaukee, Camp Randall Stadium in Madison and, to a lesser extent, the Bradley Center in Milwaukee - represents not only a good business practice for sports teams. Increasingly, it is seen as the right thing to do.

"Businesses want brand loyalty and sports teams are unique in that regard," said Allen Hershkowitz, director of the green sports initiative for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a group that advises the major sports leagues and teams on sound and proper environmental practices. "They want people to wear their clothes. But recycling is where a good environmental program intersects most visibly with fans."

It is a daunting task to clean up, separate and recycle after tens of thousands of fans have left the building. For years, sports fans have largely been conditioned to leave their waste and garbage at their feet.

But sports teams and companies such as Waste Management have seen the benefit of recycling and green programs. State law requires that major buildings such as stadiums and arenas have recycling programs in place.

"The question is, what can we afford not to recycle?" asked Waste Management spokeswoman Lynn Morgan. "Recycling saves energy, cuts greenhouse gas emissions and harvests precious resources, benefits that become more valuable every day."

Outagamie recycling program in the dumps

From an article in the Appleton Post-Crescent by Susan Squires:

APPLETON — Outagamie County could lose $579,763 on its new recycling plant during the first full year it operates, and the entire county recycling program may post a $1.4 million deficit in 2010.

"Something has to be done," Finance Director Ed Czaja told the county's finance committee Tuesday.

That "something" will probably entail passing at least some of the projected deficit on to cities, villages and towns through increased residential tipping fees.

The county now charges $24 a ton for dumping garbage and $4 for processing recycling. Covering the entire projected deficit would add $20 a ton, which Czaja said he doesn't plan to propose. Nevertheless, he said, the county needs to find a way to break even. He said he would suggest specific alternatives after further analysis.

Of the projected deficit, $579,763 is the county's estimated loss for operating its share of the new $9.9 million processing plant it owns with Brown and Winnebago counties.

The plant, which will allow residents to combine everything they recycle in one container, is running on a test basis, and should open officially by July 1. It is the largest publicly owned recycling plant in Wisconsin.

The county had planned to cover construction and interest costs with proceeds from selling recycled materials, but the market for used paper, glass, tin and aluminum has tumbled from an average of more than $88 per ton between 2003 and 2007 to $40 a ton today.

Recyling Web site for northeastern Wisconsin

From an article by Lee Bergquist in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

A group of Wisconsin communities has assembled a new Web site with information designed to help people become better recyclers.

It's called Recycle More Wisconsin and was created by the Be SMART coalition, a group of municipalities formed in 1995 to reduce the waste going into landfills.

The Web site was created this month because research showed there were barriers to recycling.

A survey of 400 residents in northeastern and southeastern Wisconsin found that 93% of people said they recycled regularly, but 36% said they were only recycling "sometimes."

Also, people younger than 35 are less likely to recycle, the survey found.

Plastic bottles, aluminum cans, glass and newspapers are regularly recycled, but mixed paper such as junk mail frequently is not, according to the survey.