MILWAUKEE — The city of Milwaukee is encouraging the public to recycle through its Curbside Program.
Each year more than 50 million pounds of materials are recycled through this program.
Laura Stevens is the resource recovery manager for Milwaukee Recycles.
She said everything picked up from curbside recycling in the city of Milwaukee and in Waukesha County ends up at their facility. That’s where the sorting process begins.
“Things that are being pulled are large pieces of scrap metal. Anything like a propane tank, bag material, big bulky material that can down the line damage equipment,” said Stevens.
Stevens also encouraged those who recycle to avoid using plastic bags.
“Please make sure that your recyclables are being put loose into the recycling container because what can happen is that they can get caught in some of the machines which causes a slowdown,” said Stevens.
Once the non-recyclable materials are removed, they are separated between paper and everything else.
Stevens believes it’s important for the community to see what happens to items they put in the recycling bin to show that the process is working.
“It’s a valuable commodity. It can get sold off to other vendors and be made into new items like a new glass bottle, more paper, tissues, more plastic containers or even things like refrigerators,” said Stevens.
Finally, the materials are placed into bales that will be sent to other facilities so they can be reused. For Stevens, recycling is about having pride for one’s community.
“It’s also important for keeping communities clean and green so that really gives people an opportunity to showcase how beautiful their neighborhoods are. Another reason is that recycling really does help out the environment whether that is reducing the need for landfill space,” said Stevens.
However, Stevens said the most important part is that residents recycle.
She hopes that people take advantage of the Milwaukee Recycles website to see what can be recycled and how it makes a difference.