Home & Garden

Wauwatosa Conducts Pilot Program to Improve Recycling Program

City will try using the same trucks to pick up recycling and then refuse on separate runs during the same shift, washing out the trucks before picking up more garbage.

The City of Wauwatosa Public Works Department will be conducting a two-week pilot program beginning March 4 to improve the City’s recycling program.

The City has a 2013 goal of diverting an additional 250 tons of refuse in the waste stream into the recycling stream. Every ton of refuse that goes through the recycling system, instead of to a landfill, saves $60 and makes $40, resulting in a positive impact of $100.

Currently, the Public Works Department collects both refuse and recycling material. Refuse is collected using automated equipment, with single operators transferring the waste through the city’s transfer station to area landfills. Recycling is collected using rear loading trucks and two-person crews.

Find out what's happening in Wauwatosawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The two-week pilot program from March 4 through March 18 will demonstrate the viability of using automated trucks to collect recycling under a “dual use” scenario.

The same vehicles will be used to collect both recycling and refuse in a single day. If successful, the dual use format for both recycling and refuse routes will be completed within an eight-hour day.

Find out what's happening in Wauwatosawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It will also reduce routes from six to five and will eliminate off-site hauling of recycling materials by Public Works Department crews, increasing efficiencies of the transfer station operation.

The average number of stops per day per route under the dual use scenario will increase from 861 to 1,034, further increasing efficiencies and reducing costs.

Wauwatosa residents will see little change in their refuse or recycling collection during the two-week pilot program. Homeowners are asked to have their carts at the curb no later than 7 a.m. on their regular pickup days.

Pickup times may vary throughout the day with the new routes. As part of the pilot, the city will have Public Works staff available to pick up a “missed” recycling pickup, and residents can call 414-471-8422 (during this two-week pilot only).

The pilot program is mandated by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to demonstrate that the city can collect the recycling material, process it through the transfer station and not cause any degradation to the recycling “product” such that it can no longer be recycled and ends up in a landfill.

The Public Works Department staff will wash out the trucks at the end of each day so they are clean before they collect the next morning’s recycling.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Wauwatosa