City of West Allis Public Works staff on a regular meeting detailed the city's curbside and drop-off recycling operations, enforcement procedures and recent costs tied to processing recyclables.

Director of Public Works Dave Webking and Sanitation Supervisor Sarah Divitz said the city provides curbside or alley-edge recycling collection to residential properties with four units or fewer and operates municipal drop-off sites for additional materials. The city moved to single-stream collection in 2017 and provided one 96-gallon cart to each eligible property; the city allowed a second cart for a fee and has sold about 500 of those extra carts since February 2022.

Webking said annual curbside and alley collection accounted for about 3,500 tons of material in the most recent reporting period; the municipal drop-off site on View Avenue handled roughly 100 tons. Webking also said the city has secured about $220,000 to $250,000 in state grant funding over the last four years to support recycling operations.

Processing and market conditions were a focus. Webking identified John's Disposal as the city's contracted processor; he said the contract ticket fee was about $60 per ton but the city's actual monthly processing costs average about $20,000 to $25,000 and the city had not yet received market-share payments under the contract. Webking said the processor's contract includes a revenue-sharing arrangement in which the city would receive 20% of sales proceeds when material markets produce revenue.

Staff described education and enforcement steps used to preserve material quality. Crews leave courtesy hangers with a QR code that links to recycling guidelines when residents place unacceptable items in carts. Crews may escalate to a written "correction" notice and, if noncompliance continues, citations. Sanitation staff use a QuickCapture GIS application and on-truck tablets to photograph and record incidents for follow-up. Webking said citations are handled through the city court process and are not automatically placed on property tax bills.

Public Works listed municipal and private partners supporting recycling collection and specialty streams: John's Disposal (single-stream processing), Legacy (electronics), OSI Environmental (waste oil, filters), Badger Materials (tires), All Star (batteries), Blue Grama Organics (yard waste), and Ultra Metal (metal drop-off).

Panelists reviewed elements of the 2017 transition to carts: the city invested more than $1 million to provide carts to roughly 22,000 residential units and moved from blue bags and separate streams to one container to improve safety, efficiency and material quality. Staff said single-stream collection also gave operational flexibility by allowing recycling and refuse to use similar frontline trucks when appropriate.

Council members asked about TV and electronics recycling costs. Webking said the city currently pays a service fee (cited as $75 per collection event at the municipal site) and remains net-paying on those items, with overall disposal and collection making the program operate at a negative margin for some materials. Webking said he would provide a written report with detailed costs.

Staff emphasized that the state recycling compliance program and the Department of Natural Resources reporting affect the city's grant eligibility. Sanitation Supervisor Sarah Divitz and staff compile annual DNR reports on tonnage, outreach and enforcement activity. Webking said the city received a Recycling Excellence award from the Wisconsin DNR in 2018.

No formal council action or vote on program changes was recorded during the presentation; staff said they would provide follow-up cost details on specific streams, including electronics.