BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Since the start of the pandemic, you’ve likely noticed a mask or two littering the streets.
“They fall out of people’s pockets, they fall out of car doors, so you’re seeing a lot of mask litter in different places so that is kind of a new phenomenon,” Brown County Port Resource Recovery director Dean Haen said.
Downtown Green Bay, Inc. launched a volunteer program last year, devoted to keeping the streets clean.
“They’ve been able to track the impact of their efforts on our downtown and we’ve seen significant improvement since we launched this program last year,” Downtown Green Bay, Inc. marketing manager Emily Cubitt said.
Cubitt says they usually notice an uptick in debris after events.
“For example a big Packer game or something like that, there’s always going to be a bit more foot traffic downtown. We’ll notice there’s always going to be an uptick in debris or litter on the streets when that happens,” Cubitt said.
Cubitt says they’re always looking for more volunteers to help beautify the community.
Haen says overall, the pandemic has led to more recycling and solid waste.
“As people are at home, whatever it might be, using Amazon more, we end up having to recycle more cardboard. On the solid waste side, there’s been a lot of home improvement projects and other efforts which is driving up waste and as you can see with the supply chains and everything there’s a lot of consumption going on and shortages,” Haen said.
Haen says it’s a significant change.
“When you start adding, we’re processing over 250 trucks a day at our transfer station. That’s a lot of users of our system that are putting the waste that’s put in the landfill,” Haen said.
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