Governor's Recycling Cuts to Impact City

Muskego Public Works officials are grappling with what may come as a result of the proposed budget cuts, namely the proposals to cut funding to required recycling programs.

City Engineer David Simpson said that the city is in the second year of a five-year contract with Veolia Environmental Services to haul recyclables and refuse, which incurs a cost of $28 per year per resident.  This cost is passed along to residents in quarterly billing, but also reflects the supplement of the state grant funds as well as a reduction from Veolia, which takes in account the proceeds they receive from recycling the materials.

In general, waste managers and public works directors throughout southeastern Wisconsin have been 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.

“We don’t have a plan for this,” said Karen Fiedler, solid waste supervisor for Waukesha County. “We expected there would be some cuts but no one anticipated elimination of the whole program. Why he selected this program is a mystery to us.”

Simpson felt the decision may have come from the governor's desire to discontinue unfunded mandates.  "These are required initiatives by the state to municipalities that aren't paid for.  While the grant money helps to offset the cost, it doesn't represent the total."

Currently the grant for Muskego represents $110,000 per year.

"The impact should this program be cut would mean that we would either have to discontinue curbside pick up or we would have to look at an increase of about $15 per unit (household) per year.  Presently, the mayor does not want to discontinue this service."

Fielder said that the public-private partnership supports about 20 private-sector jobs for the FCR Recycling, which manages the county-owned processing facility, as well as many more among the contractors hired by the municipalities.

Ultimately, she said, the program collects more than 21,000 tons of materials each year with a value of more than $1 million in sales to the paper, glass, plastics and metals industries. State grants to the county and municipalities for the program totaled $1.3 million.

“We already have an economic model,” Fiedler said, “and the markets have been strong.  The big question is, ‘How are these materials going to be collected and transferred to the market?’ It’s an economic issue.”

Simpson felt that while residents have become accustomed to recycling, he also felt they had become accustomed to having curbside pickup.  "I don't foresee people being too happy with having to take their own recyclables to a central facility every week," he said.