BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) – That brief whiff of trashy odor along Interstate 41 is saving a lot of people a lot of money. Brown, Outagamie, and Winnebago Counties are extending an agreement to improve efficiency and save money by sharing solid waste and recycling facilities.
Each county used to have their own landfill. But an agreement made in 2003 combined their efforts in a way that might even impress Oscar the Grouch.
“By having one landfill with one landfill crew and higher tonnage, we gained economies of scale that resulted in lower tipping fees over the life of the agreement,” said Brown County Port and Resource Recovery Director Dean Haen. “We had that economically analyzed, and it demonstrated that we had reduced potential costs by $48 million to our users. So going forward, that will continue – so this is a good thing for the region for the next 20-some years.”
In the original agreement, they utilized the Winnebago County landfill, which is along Interstate 41, just north of Oshkosh. They later transitioned to Outagamie County’s landfill, which is up along the highway in Appleton. That site is still open.
“Having the three counties involved is a regional, intergovernmental effort to reduce costs for our rate-payers, which are our residents, taxpayers, municipalities, and businesses,” Haen told WTAQ News. “We will be adding the Brown County-South landfill, which is down in the town of Holland – as well as another landfill at the Outagamie site.”
The goal, Haen says, is to continue to generate economies of scale that the counties realized under the first agreement resulted in lowered landfill disposal fees for municipalities, residents, and regional industries.
The re-upped plan is predicted to secure regional landfill capacity through 2042.
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