Waukesha, WI – Residents are invited to tour the newly opened City of Milwaukee/Waukesha County Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) located at 1401 W. Mt. Vernon Ave., Milwaukee on Saturday, September 19 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. during Doors Open Milwaukee, an event that opens doors to the public for tours to over 150 buildings in the Milwaukee area at no charge.
This publicly-owned, single sort recycling facility is a partnership between Waukesha County and the City of Milwaukee that is privately operated by ReCommunity Recycling. Due to strong household recycling participation, the Waukesha County recycling program has been able to return over $13 million in dividends to tax payers in partner communities since 2001. Waukesha County anticipates that single sort recycling will increase recycling rates for continued program success to maintain dividend payments. Similarly, the City of Milwaukee’s recycling program revenues have averaged $1.5 million per year since 2004 and have off-set over $16 million in residential recycling collection costs over that time.
The new MRF began operating in March which is now sorting and processing recyclables from approximately 270,000 households served by single sort recycling programs in the 25 participating Waukesha County communities and the City of Milwaukee. The MRF is designed to process 35 tons per hour or 60,000 tons per year of recyclables.
Visitors can take a self-directed tour at their own pace to view the state-of-the-art equipment and learn the process of single sort recycling. While the equipment will not be operating, visitors can still get an up-close look at the tip floor, the pre-sort cabins, paper and cardboard screens, balers, optical sort machines, sorter platforms, and finished bales ready for shipment to secondary processors or industries such as paper mills. Through a cooperative effort, staff from Waukesha County, the City of Milwaukee and Keep Greater Milwaukee Beautiful will be available throughout the facility to provide interpretation and answer questions. Visitors must wear closed-toe shoes to be allowed entry.
For more information visit waukeshacounty.gov/recycling or call 262-896-8300.