News and information for staff members and the Madison community
Vol. I No. 4 - February 17, 2006
The February 9, 2006 edition of the Wisconsin State Journal stated "Recycling (paper) has risen from 43 million tons in 1996 to 50.3 million tons in 2004 — which is 50 percent of the estimate U.S. paper consumption." What is MMSD doing to help?
MMSD converted to single stream recycling this year. This coincides with the changes the City of Madison made and the reason you have new bins for curbside pickup. The conversion also increased the type of materials that can be collected. The following materials can be placed in any blue recycling container in MMSD:
Last year, MMSD partnered with the City of Madison, and The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to obtain a DNR grant for recycling. This grant provided funds to evaluate the current status and develop a more comprehensive recycling program.
The first step to evaluate our recycling efforts is to conduct a waste sort, to see how much recyclable material is going in the trash. A group of brave volunteers sorted through the dumpsters at Lafollette, Memorial, Marquette/O'Keeffe, and Spring Harbor. This data showed that 36% of the trash in the dumpster could have been recycled.
The next step was to purchase additional blue recycling trash cans. These cans were placed at the four test sites. Since the start of school, 63 tons of recyclable material has been collected. We will not have good comparison data until we get year's worth of collections.
The success of any recycling program is dependent on the commitment of
the students and staff at the school. For real success, students and staff
will encourage everyone to participate in recycling by placing material in
the appropriate containers.
Last Updated: Thu Apr 13 14:17:55 2006
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