Dane County Executive Opens New County Facility
February 17, 2016
Josh Wescott 608-266-9069
County Executive
Will Save County $600,000 a Year and Creates 19 New Jobs
MADISON- Today, County Executive Joe Parisi attended the grand opening of the new Dane County Construction and Demolition Recycling facility. This new recycling center will separate waste from construction and demolition projects and recycle it, creating 19 new permanent jobs. That number will double as the operation grows in the coming months. This new facility will save Dane County taxpayers over $600,000 per year because previously these items were hauled out of the county to be recycled. Including design, building construction, and equipment purchases, the total project cost is $5.2 million.
“This new facility will extend the life of our landfill, recycle more materials, save millions for taxpayers and create jobs, said Parisi. “This facility will be run on waste heat from our landfill and continues our efforts to increase our renewable energy for all of our county facilities.”
Currently, Dane County trucks all of the construction & demolition waste (C&D) it receives to a recycling plant in Appleton. This results in 8 semi loads of C&D being trucked to Appleton each day for recycling. With this expansion, all of the recycling will now take place at the County’s site. This will reduce truck traffic and lower emissions by 550 tons per year.
It is an innovation public-private partnership. The County will own the facility, and a private contractor will operate it and market the recycled products. Initially, the facility will process approximately 40,000 tons of C&D material annually. This is expected to grow to 75,000 tons per year in the future. The facility will achieve a 70% recycling rate for all material it receives. This expansion will also save valuable landfill airspace, which extends the life of our existing landfill.
The building has green features including LED lighting, daylighting, and minimal new paved areas. In addition, heat for the building will be provided from engines on site that are also using landfill gas to produce renewable electricity for 4,000 homes.
“This is a win for taxpayers and a win for our environment. Dane County will continue to be a leader in our efforts to protect our environment. ” concluded Dane County Executive Parisi.
This announcement comes as Dane County was just notified they have won the Outstanding Achievement in Recycling – Private-Public Partnership Award for 2016 from Associated Recyclers of Wisconsin for this project.
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