Recycling Update
As previously reported, over the past couple of months the town has experienced an exceptionally high rate of garbage being put in the recycling carts causing the recycling loads to be rejected and the town assuming additional charges to dispose of the recycling/garbage mix as the company handling our recyclable material has refused the loads.
On Friday January 3, 2025 myself and Amanda Haffele, Portage County’s Solid Waste Director did a town wide inspection of all recycling carts in an effort to identify the sources of the problem. This inspection took over 9 hours to complete. You should have seen the inspection tags on your recycling cart.
We did find several residences with excessive garbage in their recycling cart and these residents have received notices. The other main issues that were commonly seen were: 1) bagging of recyclable items (items should not be bagged), 2) plastic bags and plastic film materials (plastic bags should be returned to retailers), and 3) Tanglers (hoses, wires, etc.), these items are not compatible with the sorting equipment.
The town is requesting of all residents to please use each cart (garbage cart – recycling cart) only for that purpose. Each cart is identified as such. Residents should only be using Harter’s carts. We will soon (probably 2-1-25) be asking Harter’s to instruct their drivers to not pickup materials in any other carts. If you do not have Harter’s carts, please contact the Town of Dewey. We also ask that residents review the recycling information that was provided with the tax bill and/or the OOPS Notice that was placed on each recycling cart to ensure that the proper items are being recycled as part of the curbside pickup program. Many other items can be recycled, but they must be taken to a drop-off location. Please contact the Portage County Solid Waste Department for the proper method of recycling these items.
You can go to www.facebook.com/PortageCountyRecycles for more information or call 715-343-6297.
The Town Board and the Portage County Solid Waste Department would like to thank you in advance for your cooperation with the garbage/recycling disposal program. If each of us does our small part we can make these program efficient and work to keep the cost as low as possible.
If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. Thank you.