Municipal Waste in Milwaukee

Municipal Waste in Milwaukee

Yard waste is a concern for seasonal states like Wisconsin. Milwaukee generates 580,000 pounds of yard waste annually. That’s 17.3 pounds of yard waste per person. Composting facilities are handling 9 million pounds of yard waste. This accounts for a 30% compost rate. The majority of the waste is incinerated or land filled. The average processing cost is $25 per ton.

Corrugated boxes account for 217 pounds of waste per person per year. They are recycled at a 64.2% rate. This recycled material is then redistributed into 37% of new boxes. Only 6.8% of these boxes are incinerated. When in recycle bails, the boxes weigh about 1000 pounds per square yard. This is why it costs $35 per ton to process. They can also be used to generate electricity. They have a 7,047 BTU per pound ratio of heat.

Plastic bottles like the ones used to make 20 ounce and 2 liter drink bottles account for 175,000 pounds of waste. The recycling rate for Milwaukee is 34.7%. The discard rate for these types of bottles is only .5%! Bailed bottles have a density of 500 pounds per yard. Collection costs are about $1,200 per ton. Processing costs about $170 per ton.

Steel or “tin” cans generated from food containers account for a 20 pound per person ratio. The average can weighs 2.4 ounces and that is 540,000 pounds of cans. Milwaukee ranks at