Sanitation budget funds recycling, maintains leaf-collection operations; residents urged to follow timelines
Loading...
Summary
Sanitation managers said the 2026 proposal keeps biweekly recycling, funds drop-off pilots for food scraps and preserves neighborhood programs; staff warned that leaf collection and snow/ice overlap create seasonal scheduling trade-offs and encouraged early raking and use of city maps for status updates.
Sanitation Services presented its portion of the DPW operations budget Oct. 16 and reiterated that curbside recycling will continue on a year-round, every-other-week schedule under the proposed 2026 budget. Sanitation Manager Rick Myers said the department will set a firm schedule for recycling pickup so residents know when to set out carts, and said the change is intended to reduce unscheduled pickups and improve route efficiency.
The department is piloting a food-scrap drop-off program under an ECO/USDA-funded initiative linked to the Feed MKE effort; about 10 community drop-off sites had been signed up at the time of the hearing with more expected. Sanitation said it continues to promote backyard composting through discounted bin sales and to link residents to private curbside composters but noted that citywide curbside composting requires processing capacity that is not yet consistently available.
Leaf collection drew sustained interest. DPW officials told the committee that staffing and heavy equipment used for leaves are the same crews and vehicles used for snow and ice control; an early storm can force the department to pause leaf work to reroute resources for public safety. DPW said it will continue a flexible approach and encouraged residents to rake earlier in the season and consult an online leaf-collection map that shows where crews are working; the department also said it will publish additional notification before the December change to recycling pickup rules. The department said it will continue to offer Saturday neighborhood dumpsters in spring and to operate seasonal drop-off centers.
Myers described enforcement tools for contaminated recycling and misused carts: crews may leave an orange notice tag or take a photo in-cab with the routing system (RouteWare) to create a follow-up work order for a sanitation inspector. Unresolved violations can lead to a special charge or referral to municipal enforcement; the group discussed the difficulty of proving who left illicit material on public rights of way in order to issue a municipal citation.
Sanitation also runs a significant open-records workload and said it would explore AI-assisted records processing to speed responses while protecting sensitive materials. The proposed 2026 budget funds ongoing core sanitation services and maintains special funds for illegal dumping cleanup and vacant lot maintenance.
