With a proven track record of successfully creating new programs, diverting waste to resources, generating renewable energy, and developing a Sustainability Campus. Dane County鈥檚 Department of Waste + Renewables continues to innovate and lead the future of waste and resource management.
Dane County Department of Waste + Renewables (W+R) spun out of the County鈥檚 Department of Public Works in 2019, which prior to that, had existed as a Division of Public Works since the 1970s. Today, its mission is to provide environmentally sound and sustainable waste management and renewable energy solutions for current Dane County residents and future generations. This includes looking at waste as a resource to create renewable fuels and the conservation of landfill air space through waste diversion, recycling, and efficient operations. W+R is responsible for the management and operation of Dane County鈥檚 only active MSW landfill (~300,000 tons/year), renewable natural gas (RNG) facilities, Clean Sweep (e-waste and household hazardous waste), construction and demolition (C&D) recycling facility (62,000 tons/year throughput), and various other recycling programs.
The Department operates as an 鈥渆nterprise fund鈥�, which means all W+R operations are funded by the fees charged for services and not by taxpayer dollars. In addition, excess revenue from the sale of RNG helps fund other County initiatives. W+R鈥檚 integrated and innovative approach to operations ensures an affordable, long-term waste management system for Dane County.
W+R currently has 35 full-time employees and 50 total staff and has grown steadily over time. This is up from 14 full time employees and 20 total staff in 2012, and W+R expects to continue to grow by one to two people annually for the next 10 years. In addition, W+R currently owns 58 fleet vehicles, including four compactors, five wheel-loaders, four bulldozers, two excavators, two tractors, and a CNG-powered tour bus..
Operating exclusively within Dane County, W+R serves a wide variety of customers鈥攆rom individual residents disposing of items like old computers to the City of Madison to large private hauling businesses managing hundreds of thousands of tons of material annually, and everything in between. Says Roxanne Wienkes, Deputy Director, 鈥淲+R is committed to providing excellent customer service and strives to offer a safe, high-quality experience for all visitors.鈥�
Innovative Strategies
Like many organizations, inflation and rising costs are the largest challenge to operations for W+R. 鈥淲e are continually seeking ways to cover rising costs while controlling costs for customers and maintaining reliable public services, such as HHW collection,鈥� says John Welch, W + R Director. 鈥淥ne way W+R stays ahead of the curve is due to our status as an 鈥榚nterprise fund,鈥� which means all of our operations are funded by the fees we charge for services and not by taxpayer dollars. We have also been successful in partnering with private companies to reduce risks and costs. Examples of this include the privately operated C&D MRF and the privately owned and operated compost facility. In addition, excess revenue from the sale of Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) extracted from the landfill, generates a budget surplus and helps fund other County initiatives. This integrated and innovative approach to operations ensures an affordable, long-term waste management system for Dane County.鈥�
However, Wienkes says that W+R right now the industry鈥檚 main challenges are planning to meet regulation and legislation that is on the horizon, especially with regards to PFAS and measuring and addressing landfill emissions. 鈥淲+R is working to get ahead of these things and stay up on most-recent knowledge. Our team members are actively involved in technical advisory committees and local and national industry associations, attending national conferences and by actively researching new technologies.鈥�
Because Dane County is the second largest and fastest growing county in the state of Wisconsin, having added 100,000 residents over the past 10 years, and 180,000 more anticipated by 2050, this growing population has placed increased demand on W+R鈥檚 services, causing the Department to look for increasingly more avenues to reduce waste production and increase waste diversion. 鈥淭he largest effort on this front has been the development of a large-scale C+D recycling facility that today processes more than 62,000 of materials annually. W+R invested $15 million of capital cost to adapt a transfer station and outfit it with machinery capable of accepting and sorting mixed C+D for recycling onsite,鈥� explains Wienkes. Per a public-private partnership, W+R owns the 28,000 square foot building and sorting infrastructure, and the facility is staffed and operated by a private third party. This facility has enabled W+R to take a sizable chunk out of the incoming waste stream and divert it from landfill.
While W+R does not operate a collection service, it does serve as the primary destination for materials in the County. W+R operates the County鈥檚 only MSW landfill, and the only C+D recycling facility in the state. W+R also collects tires (850 tons/yr.), shingles (14,600 tons/yr.), and metal (170 tons/yr.) for recycling by private third parties and operations the County鈥檚 Clean Sweep program that accepts household hazardous waste (HHW) and electronics for recycling (14,000 visits/yr.). Recycling programs include:
鈥� Shingle recycling
鈥� Tire recycling
鈥� Clean wood, brush, and logs processing
鈥� Electronic equipment recycling
鈥� Appliance recycling
鈥� Mercury and fluorescent bulb recycling
鈥� Bicycle exchange program
鈥� Clean Sweep product exchange program
鈥� Food scrap drop off program
鈥� Annual grant program to support organics diversion
W+R also maintains a directory of recycling locations for materials the Department does not currently accept.
Managing Waste Through Outreach and Education
W+R views community outreach and education as key strategies to reducing and better managing waste within Dane County. Not only does outreach create a more knowledgeable, waste-conscious community, but it also allows W+R to more clearly communicate the benefits of taking on large-scale projects that make more from the materials received onsite, such as the RNG plant and C&D recycling facility.
W+R employs several staff members that focus specifically on education and outreach, and has many community engagement programs including the Trash Lab, a fully accessible, 27-foot-long repurposed cargo trailer that features more than 10 playful interactive stations, engaging stories, and a wealth of data, along with compelling photography and video footage. 鈥淭he exhibit鈥檚 whimsical exterior and immersive interior environment help community members of all ages better understand the implications of the waste they produce, how landfills work, and new opportunities for more sustainable solutions. The Trash Lab has won several state, national, and international awards,鈥� says Wyeth Augustine-Marceil, Sustainability & Engagement Coordinator proudly. 鈥淲+R also operates a popular tour program that brings visitors throughout the Department鈥檚 site鈥攊ncluding to the active face of the landfill鈥攖o give a firsthand perspective of the scale of W+R鈥檚 operations. Together, these two programs reach about 7,000 residents annually, and W+R is constantly looking for avenues to continue to grow.鈥�
Dane County鈥檚 Clean Sweep was recently recognized with a Wisconsin DNR Recycling Excellence Award for two initiatives aimed at increasing access to safe material management of HHW and electronic waste.
Image credit: Smithgroup.
Current Facilities
- One active landfill (includes a native prairie grass cap)
- Two closed landfills
- C&D MRF (County owned, but privately operated under a PPP)
- E-Waste and HHW facility (Clean Sweep)
- Wood yard
- RNG Plant鈥攐wned and operated by County staff
- Partner with private compost operation to provide food scrap composting program
Initiative 1
Recognizing that local municipalities have success hosting one-day mobile HHW collection events, but that these events are very resource-intensive, Clean Sweep staff came up with the idea to host one-day municipality-specific collection days at a permanent site. Collaborating with Dane County municipalities (Cottage Grove, Blooming Grove, Burke, and McFarland), Clean Sweep hosted four collection events that drew 220 residents and was able to safely manage 13,000 lbs. of HHW.
Initiative 2
Dane County is a registered collector for the E-Cycle Wisconsin program and accepts electronics for recycling from residents and schools. Though the program is open to everyone, it requires a fee and the site is only accessible by vehicle鈥攑osing a barrier for some Dane County residents. To address this, Clean Sweep partnered with the City of Madison鈥檚 Community Development Authority (CDA), to host a series of free electronics collection events at CDA-owned low-income subsidized housing properties. Over three events, Clean Sweep collected over 2,300 lbs. of electronics for recycling.
鈥淲e are always striving to improve our safety culture. As many of Waste Advantage鈥檚 readers would know, the solid waste industry is one of the most dangerous for American workers. We are constantly striving to stay ahead of the next accident by paying attention to all near misses and implementing changes to prevent future incidents. All staff are given safety training, both during their first few days of employment, and ongoing refreshers on a variety of topics, and we offer safety awards for exemplary safety-related actions!鈥� exclaims Wienkes.
Putting the 鈥淩enewables鈥� in Waste
W+R is particularly proud of the successful development and operation of the Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) plant, which put the 鈥楻enewables鈥� in Waste + Renewables. After 25 years of generating electricity from landfill gas, in 2019, W+R constructed the $29 million RNG processing facility, which uses cutting-edge technology to transform landfill biogas into renewable natural gas. After just five years, W+R was able to recoup the investment cost of the facility, and today W+R continues to operate the 1,800 standard cubic feet per minute (SCFM) facility that generates roughly $15 million in revenue and $2 million in profit annually. 鈥淭o our knowledge, we are the only municipally owned and operated RNG Facility in North America,鈥� comments Welch.
W+R鈥檚 RNG facility also includes a first-of-its-kind Biogas Injection Hub, which allows other biogas producers in the area, such as Wisconsin dairy farmers, to access an interconnect to an interstate pipeline and renewable energy markets. An interstate pipeline connection costs millions of dollars, an unreasonable endeavor for dairy farmers to pursue if they want to access broader energy markets. Wienkes points out, 鈥淒ane County鈥檚 investment in this connection opens the doors for regional biogas producers to take advantage of these renewable energy markets at a much more affordable cost.鈥�
W+R is continuing to expand operations under the 鈥榬enewables鈥� umbrella, including ongoing development of just the third landfill solar project in the State of Wisconsin on a County-owned closed landfill in Verona, WI. They have been instrumental in the development of two large-scale solar fields, leading to the County becoming just the fourth county in the nation to achieve 100 percent renewable electricity status. Currently, W + R staff are part of a small team working to achieve carbon neutrality in all County operations by 2030.
Advancing Sustainability and the Circular Economy
W+R has a loaded project list for the foreseeable future, as the Department is seeking to play a larger role in the circular economy, they continue to safely manage the county鈥檚 materials and grow service offerings. This includes the recent launch of a food scrap composting program funded by a $400,000 USDA Composting and Food Waste Reduction (CFWR) grant, the development of a new landfill to replace the nearing-capacity Rodefeld landfill, as well as upgrades and maintenance to the current landfill鈥檚 leachate system and RNG plant.
In addition, with less than five years of the County鈥檚 MSW landfill space, W+R has an opportunity to plan for a growing and changing waste stream and advance the circular economy through the development of a 30-acre Sustainability Campus, which will serve as a regional hub for waste diversion, education, and the circular economy. The Campus will have a Waste Education Center that will house the Department and provide public space for community outreach, events, and education, as well as developable space, access to materials, and suitable infrastructure for partnering with businesses whose ideas, technologies, and operations can advance sustainability, educate the public, create jobs, and reduce waste, while generating marketable products such as raw materials, recycled products, and energy. W+R is currently working to attract potential partners while concurrently permitting the landfill, and designing the site, infrastructure, and first phase of Department buildings that will form the anchors of the new site. W+R anticipates breaking ground on the new site in Spring 2026 with the first phase of construction completed in Spring 2027 and further expansion of the Campus proceeding based on the needs of partnering organizations. Through a Request for Information (RFI) process, the department recently sought interest from partners whose ideas, technologies, and operations can advance sustainability, educate the public, and reduce waste at the new Sustainability Campus. The most promising approaches and ideas will move to RFP in Fall 2025 for future development on the site. Explains Augustine-Marceil, 鈥淭he new landfill and Sustainability Campus being developed by W+R is designed to enhance safety and the overall experience for different types of visitors. Key to this is the creation of two separate access points鈥攐ne for small residential customers and another for large haulers and contractors. The new site will feature a 鈥榬acetrack-inspired鈥� road design that eliminates intersections, significantly reducing the possibility of accidents and improving safety.鈥�
According to Melissa Agard, Dane County Executive, 鈥淲+R has a proven track record of successfully creating new programs, diverting waste to resources, and generating renewable energy. With current planning efforts for a new landfill and sustainable business park, we are intentionally designing the framework that will enable us to continue to innovate and lead the future of waste and resource management.鈥� | WA
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