Household hazardous waste site closed; committee seeks host and reports stable regional participation

The Muskego City landfill committee received an update Oct. 7 on efforts to relocate household hazardous waste collections after the Muskego site closed.

Staff reported they contacted several nearby communities about hosting collection events; New Berlin, Muskego, Vernon, and Big Bend declined. Lease management and a neighboring site have expressed interest in hosting a location directly across from the former site, but staff said legal liability language in the proposed agreement remains an obstacle and that the matter has been escalated to district-level staff for further review.

"I continue to hear from their staff that they are very interested in partnering with us on this, but it's their legal team that has, I would say some issues with the liability language that's being proposed in the agreement," staff said, adding they hope to have draft language to share with legal counsel soon.

Staff also reviewed participation and cost data (January–August): total participants were down by 37 from the same period last year despite the Muskego site closure; program costs to date were reported as approximately $200,134.70. The final one-time collection event was held in Oconomowoc in September; staff said they will share year-end figures at the next meeting. Staff added they had handled 776 phone calls about the program year-to-date, noting high demand during the busy fall cleanup season.

Committee members asked for leads on alternate hosting options as staff continues negotiations; no relocation agreement was approved at the meeting.