Dane County opens new recycling center

Clean Sweep program to operate year round beginning this spring

MADISON, Wis. — Dane County Executive Joe Parisi announced Thursday that construction has been completed on the county’s new recycling center.

The $4 million facility with “green” features will extend the life of the county’s landfill and expand the popular Clean Sweep program year-round, the county said in a news release.

Construction and demolition waste currently accounts for 40 percent of the space in the county’s Rodefeld Landfill. In the coming weeks, trucks full of these waste materials will begin to arrive at the recycling center, or transfer station. The refuse is consolidated at the facility, compacted and then loaded onto larger semi-trailers to be hauled to the recycler, instead of in the landfill.

The transfer station will also allow the popular Clean Sweep program to operate year round, beginning this spring. Clean Sweep helps area residents safely dispose of hazardous materials like paint and cleaners that would otherwise sit in a home, or if not properly disposed of, make their way into area waterways.

County officials said the building contains many green features that will reduce stormwater runoff from leaving the grounds, and translucent light panels that will reduce the need for electric light. The building will also be heated with the waste heat generated by the landfill’s generator engines that convert landfill gas to renewable electricity for Dane County homes and businesses.

Parisi said the facility is a key component of his comprehensive solid waste strategy that will extend the life of the county’s current landfill site another three decades. Avoiding the process to site a new landfill will save 200 acres of valuable farmland and save county taxpayers $100 million, the county said in the release.