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Recycling
E-News
Recycling Information from Waukesha County
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Greetings!
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Welcome to the new version of our Recycling E-News. We hope that this format will allow you to more easily enjoy all of the tips, tricks, and information our office has to share. We would love for you to share this information with your family, friends, and neighbors. If you no longer wish to receive this publication, please click on 'unsubscribe' at the top or bottom of this E-mail to safely remove your name from our list.
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Turn Over A New Leaf
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As the leaves begin to fall this autumn, many people are faced with the decision of how to handle the leaves on their property. Yard trimmings are banned from Wisconsin's landfills, and while some municipalities offer a leaf pick-up, many do not. Thus, disposing of the leaves becomes the homeowner's responsibility. Even if your municipality does offer leaf collection, it is a costly disposal option for your municipality. So what is a resident to do? There are several easy options that allow residents to take care of yard trimmings and leaves on their own property. - Mulching leaves in place. This option is faster than raking and allows the nutrients in the leaves to return to your soil. Get your lawn ready for winter by allowing leaves to decompose on your lawn. Several passes over your leaves with a lawnmower (a regular blade or mulching blade) will chip the leaves into small pieces to feed your lawn.
- Composting. Composting is another way to use leaves as a valuable resource. If you start composting this fall, you can have usable compost for your yard by spring!
- Organic Mulch. Spread leaves and shredded brush around plants and trees to help keep a moderate temperature and retain moisture. Compost and mulch also helps control soil erosion.
- What not to do. Do not burn leaves. This is a health hazard for people with allergies and asthma, a fire hazard, and creates air pollution. It is also a waste of resources.
To learn more, visit our website for a short video. Also, there will be three presentations through out the county this fall to further explore the air quality issues that surround burning and information on how to alternatively handle yard waste. |
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Visit our Partners
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For the Kids
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Recycle Raccoon, the county's recycling mascot, loves to teach kids about recycling. They can come visit the Materials Recycling Facility as part of their class at school, scout troop, 4H club, or other youth organization. We also have resources that educators can check out with tons of fun books and games if a trip to the MRF is not possible. Check us out online!
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| Get the Meds Out! Pilot Program to End Soon!
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 Keep our kids safe and our waters clean ~
NEVER flush or pour medicine down the drain.
A free mail-back program to properly dispose of old, unused medicine that was launched in mid-May will continue through October 2008. The pioneering initiative - a joint effort between University of Wisconsin Extension (UWEX), Waukesha County, Winnebago County, and area pharmacies - provides safe drug disposal to residents while bringing national attention to drug safety issues affecting the public and the environment. Call 1-800-958-5859 to receive a pre-paid envelope for your over-the-counter and prescription medications. For more information, visit our website.
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Waste Free Lunches
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The average school age child using a disposable lunch generates 67 pounds of garbage each school year! In an average-size elementary school, this adds up to 18,760 pounds of lunch waste each year. That's a lot of garbage and taxpayer disposal dollars! However, there are some simple steps you can take to reduce the amount of garbage created. - Use reusable containers for carrying lunches, drinks, and food.
- Use a cloth napkin
- Pack healthy lunches with the amount of food your child eats so there is less food thrown away.
- Host a Waste-Free lunch day at school. Weigh the amount of garbage created in the cafeteria for one week. Then ask children to pack items in reusable containers for a week and weigh the garbage again. This is also a great project for math classes to work with weights and percentages!
For more ideas to reduce waste in your child's school, e-mail our office for a waste reduction presentation. |
| Free Blue Bins!
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 A local study shows that people recycle more when they have adequate storage for their recyclables. To help residents with this problem, Waukesha
County will be making free blue bins available to participants in the
county's recycling program.
Get an updated list of locations and times at our website. Also, if you know of any community events to distribute free residential recycling bins, please contact our office and we can make the bins and some brochures on the recycling program available to the event sponsor. Some great events for blue bin distributions include community events, pancake breakfasts, and school functions like open houses and parent-teacher conferences.
For more information on which
communities are participating, what to recycle, holding a distribution at a community event, and where to get a bin on other
days, visit www.waukeshacounty.gov/recycling
or call the county recycling office at 262-896-8300.
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Upcoming Events
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Apple Harvest Festival
Join us this Saturday from 11 AM to 4 PM at Retzer Nature Center for fall fun and food. Our staff will be on hand to give away free blue bins and give presentations on composting and rain gardens. $5 entrance fee per car.
Satellite Collection for Household Hazardous Waste
In addition to the permanent HHW collection sites in Menomonee Falls, Muskego, Franklin, and Waukesha, there will be a special collection in New Berlin at the recycling drop off at the north end of Casper Drive on Saturday, September 27 from 8 a.m. to Noon. For locations, times, and lists of acceptable items, please visit our HHW website.
 Turn Over a New Leaf Workshop
Waukesha County's Recycling Specialists and Jerry Medinger, from the DNR Air Quality Office, will give a joint presentation about managing fall leaves and yard trimmings and the problems with leaf burning and air quality in Waukesha County. To attend one of these free workshops, please RSVP by e-mailing us with your name, phone number, and the date/location you will attend. The three presentations are
- Wednesday, October 1 at 7:00 p.m.
- Elm Grove Library, 13600 W Juneau Blvd
- Thursday, October 9 at 6:30 p.m.
- Pewaukee Library, 210 Main Street
- Saturday, October 11 at 10:00
a.m. - Retzer
Nature Center,
S14 W28167 Madison St
Materials Recycling
Facility Open House
Waukesha County's MRF will be having an Open House
for America Recycles Day on November 15th from 10 am to noon.
Come see what happens to your recyclables once they have left the curb. Discover how long it takes American's to use
3,250,000 disposable water bottles, how recycling can help save the rainforest, and
how much energy is saved by recycling an aluminum can. Also see what products your recyclables become. Watch Your Mailboxes!
Waukesha County's annual Recycling and Waste Reduction News will be delivered to your mailbox soon!
Sign up for monthly event updates from our department by using the link at the bottom of this e-mail to update your profile. Check out all of our newsletters to keep you informed!
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Free
Blue
Bin
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For residents of the County's Recycling program, free blue bins are available at several community locations and special events. Participating communities include the cities of Brookfield, Delafield, New Berlin, Oconomowoc, Pewaukee, and Waukesha. Towns of Brookfield, Delafield, Lisbon, Merton, Oconomowoc, Summit, and Waukesha. Villages of Big Bend, Chennequa, Dousman, Eagle, Elm Grove, Hartland, Lac La Belle, Meron, Nashotah, Oconomowoc Lake, Pewaukee, and Wales.
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Visit your city, town, or village hall!
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