Without State Funding, Future of Recycling Uncertain in Port

In the 17 years since local recycling programs were mandated by the state of Wisconsin, the practice has grown up from a feel-good initiative that many grumbled about into an environmental and economic framework that most people take pride in.

So waste managers and public works directors throughout southeastern Wisconsin were caught off-guard by Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal to eliminate the recycling requirement for counties and municipalities, along with all state funding to support such programs.

Among those surprised was Port Washington Director of Public Works Rob Vanden Noven.

"To suddenly eliminate the program and say, 'We're not going to have recycling in Wisconsin any more,' that would have some consequences," he said. "Your greatest volume of waste is your recyclables.

"If you choose not to continue (to recycle), you’re going to fill up your landfill quicker, and then you need another landfill. And the first person to complain is the one whose house is next to where the new landfill is sited," he added.

Will recycling continue in Port?

Vanden Noven said he could not speak to whether Port Washington would continue its program or, if it did, how it would make up the budget shortfall. Port will spend about $136,000 in 2011 on its recycling program, and $30,000 of that was expected to come from the state.

"I would guess that we will want to continue the program," he said, "but it isn’t for me to say. It is still required by ordinance. Whatever the state does, each community would have to repeal its recycling ordinance."

Beyond that are more sticking points, Vanden Noven said. The cost to the city for collecting recyclables is $3.50 per month per household, or about $40 a year.

"Suppose a household generates a ton of waste a year, and the tipping fee is $30 a ton," he said. "The savings, if any, aren’t that much. Also, the city has invested in carts at 50 to 100 bucks a cart. I suppose they would become garbage carts, but its an investment we’ve made."

Port Washington has a contract with Veolia Environmental for collection of recyclables.

"If I was Veolia and had invested millions of dollars in recycling facilities in Wisconsin, I would be alarmed," Vanden Noven said. "I would be sympathetic to any company that had invested here because of Wisconsin law and then that law suddenly changed."

DNR will help with transition

At the state level, Ann Coakley, director of the Bureau of Waste and Materials Management of the Department of Natural Resources said: "We do realize the tie to private business. Recycling is still cheaper than landfilling, and the DNR still has a strong recycling education program focused on collecting and reusing.

"So, nothing has changed with us, and will work with our stakeholders to make a transition."

Coakley said that in 2009, the state grant program paid out $27.9 million to communities and that the total cost of recycling to all communities was $108.2 million. She did not have a figure for how much of that amount was recovered through sale of the material because the markets fluctuate.

The Sierra Club was instrumental in creating the recycling law, which was passed in 1990 but went into effect in 1994. Cherie Briscoe of the Great Waters Group, which represents metro Milwaukee-area counties, was among those who lobbied for the law.

"The governor is playing a shell game by taking funds that were paid through taxes on landfill waste created specifically to help communities set up and operate recycling programs," Briscoe said. "It has been a mandate that works, and most communities have been able to neutralize its cost with the help of the recycling fund dollars.

"It has also helped to discourage people from being wasteful. 

"The taxes paid have supported good jobs that ultimately produce new products as well as conserving valuable resources and educating our children and families about conservation," he added.

"This is another example of false economy that will not only hurt communities,  it will take away jobs that have been particularly good for low-skilled individuals. Recycling has been, and continues to be, a win-win environmental and energy-saving program for all of us."