Madison adjusts to Clean Sweep's new location

Dane County’s program for recycling hazardous waste, Clean Sweep, will soon undergo changes that the county says will improve efficiency and customer service. Other changes, such as new fees, have already been in effect since the county opened its new year-round location in May.

Clean Sweep: Some title (photo/**)Customers will be able to drop off paint, pesticides, poisons and other household products directly to the Clean Sweep grounds at the county landfill without stopping at a check-in point, according to Dave Radisewitz, Dane County hazardous waste coordinator. This change is intended to relieve bottleneck congestion at the site, he said.

Radisewitz said other proposed changes include improving sign visibility at the site.

Clean Sweep opened its new location near the Dane County Landfill off of Highway 12 on May 1. Radisewitz said the new location allows the facility to operate year-round, while the previous location operated for eight months each year. The program can now also collect and recycle electronics, including televisions and computer monitors, he said.

The move brought other changes such as a $10 fee per vehicle for Dane County residents to use the site. According to the Dane County Clean Sweep website, the cost for dropping off a TV or computer monitor is another $10. First-time customers who pay the vehicle fee can drop off one TV or monitor for free.

A survey in the program’s 2010 annual report showed that 90 percent of Clean Sweep users would be willing to pay a fee to help pay for the program.

Radisewitz said the location has had fewer customers than during the same period last year, possibly due to a lack of publicity about the move. He noted that the program has taken in about the same amount of waste.

“In theory, that is what should happen since people are not taking as many trips out here with two or three products, but making it one trip and cleaning out the whole garage,” he said. “In that sense, it’s a little more cost effective.”

Dane County Board Supervisor Kyle Richmond (District 4), said the new facility is an improvement on the previous temporary facility because it consolidates Dane County’s waste facilities into one location.

As a member of the county’s Solid Waste and Recycling Advisory Commission, Richmond has received a few complaints from his constituents because the new facility used to be on Fish Hatchery Road and is now located more than ten miles away. 

“We realize it’s a longer trip in south central Madison but we actually think that it’s a new good facility, and this is a facility for all of Dane County,” Richmond said. “So all you have to do is plan a trip.”

Bay Creek resident Carol Harm said she used the previous Clean Sweep location when it was closer to her home to drop off old paint.

Now, she and her neighbors are coordinating their efforts. One of her neighbors plans to collect others’ hazardous waste to minimize both the cost in time and money to drop it off at the site, she said.

“It seemed silly that if one person with one or two items has to go through the whole thing of going out there,” Harm said. “Ten dollars to drop off one or two things also seems excessive.”

The fee, along with other revenue produced by Clean Sweep, helps offset the County’s cost for operating the site, Richmond said. According to Dane County’s 2013 budget, the total operating expense for Clean Sweep is about $535,000. The fee could provide $95,000, leaving about $350,000 to be paid by the county.

The new location also has space for people to drop off and pick up usable products like cans of paint, Richmond said.

Radisewitz said the county also made a few changes to the Product Exchange program when it moved to its new location, such as allowing county residents to visit once per week instead of multiple times. The new rules also limit the amount people can take to what they can carry in one trip to their vehicle.

“We felt we had people taking extreme advantage of the program,” he said. “Some were taking several trips whenever they could, and we just put some hard limits so one person does not collect all the good stuff.”

Radisewitz added that many of the shelves are currently well-stocked.

“It costs money to get rid of it but the stuff you pick up is free,” he said. “So if you pick up a bucket of paint then you’ve paid for your trip.”