Household-hazardous-waste program reports nearly 3,000 users through August; county negotiating Muskego site and Jefferson County partnership

At the Oct. 6 Landfill Standing Committee meeting, the household-hazardous-waste program manager reported that, through August, 2,979 users visited permanent collection sites and one-day events, yielding about 124,000 pounds of material and incurring just under $200,000 in program costs.

The manager told the committee that the January–August data are what staff have received to date and that September invoices and reports were not yet available. She said the program held four one‑day events this year (Muckwonago in May, Brookfield in June, Delafield in June and Oconomowoc in September) and that the Brookfield event had over 300 users.

On a new permanent site, the manager said county staff received a draft license agreement this summer from Waste Management to establish a collection site at the closed Stone Ridge Landfill location in Muskego. She said negotiations are ongoing and identified three main issues the county is working to resolve in the draft agreement: collection frequency (the draft’s minimum frequency is low and county staff want more frequent collections), whether the agreement allows multi-day storage (which lowers handling costs) and clearer allocation of roles and responsibilities that in some places currently assign county duties that belong to the vendor.

The manager said the county is also working to add standard operating procedures for how the site would respond to illegal dumping because the vendor’s draft calls for daily on-site inspections that county staff said are not feasible given county staffing levels. She said risk management and corporation counsel are reviewing the agreement and that the county’s target remains opening the Muskego site in 2026, although no final agreement had been signed at the meeting.

The manager also said Jefferson County has expressed interest in a partnership that would allow up to 20 Jefferson County residents to use Waukesha County drop-off sites under a waiver arrangement; the manager said that under the proposed arrangement the county would continue to use driver-license scanners, would segregate Jefferson County material from Waukesha County material, and that no Waukesha County EPL or general funds would be used to support Jefferson County’s program.

Staff did not request or record a committee vote on either the Muskego license agreement or the Jefferson County partnership at the meeting; both items remain under negotiation and review.

The manager said Parks and Land Use hired a summer intern who redesigned the program’s printed hazardous‑waste guide into a one‑page flyer; staff plan to update and print the flyer once site details for Muskego are finalized.