Walker's Plan to End Recycling Mandate Catches Many by Surprise

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.

“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.”

In Waukesha County, 25 municipalities arrange to have recyclable materials collected and delivered to a central processing center owned by the county and managed by the private company FCR Recycling.

Fielder said that the public-private partnership supports about 20 private-sector jobs for FCR, 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.”

Tom Grisa, the Brookfield director of public works, said until the budget bill is passed in its final form, it will be difficult to say what the city will do.

“If the state doesn’t require it, the city may require it,” he said. “Most people are complying, and Brookfield is generally in the upper portion of municipalities in the county in terms of participation.”

Grisa said Brookfield has a contract with a private company to collect and deliver recyclables, which is the case with most communities.

“We’ll have to look at it as the economics of recycling versus not recycling,” he said. “It may be more expensive to not have recycling because then you’d have to pay tipping fees,” the charge to dispose of waste in landfills.

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.”

Fiedler, of Waukesha County, said that the recycling mandate accounted for the collection of more than 400,000 tons of materials in Wisconsin last year, which she considered a remarkable savings in landfilling at a relatively low price.

“It seems that (Walker) does not understand recycling in Wisconsin, the way the system works,” Fiedler said. “Normally, you wouldn’t want to mess with a system that works. Once you short-circuit that process, it is difficult to rebuild.

 “I think the governor has seriously miscalculated the people’s investment in this program.”