Casey Hines (00:14)

Hello everyone, I am Casey Hines and I’m joined today by Laura Stevens from the City of Milwaukee, one of Dynamics’ long-time municipal partners here in Wisconsin. Together we’re going to talk about the city’s approach to electronics recycling, the challenges they face, some of their wins, and what other communities can learn from Milwaukee’s experience. Laura, before we dive in, can you tell us a little bit about your role within the City of Milwaukee and how electronics recycling fits into your day-to-day responsibilities?

Laura Stevens (00:39)

Well thanks to you Casey and the dynamic team for having City of Milwaukee on. I’m really excited to talk with you and share more about the city’s program. I’m Laura Stevens, the Resource Recovery Program Manager and I administer the city’s recycling program which includes single stream and then we operate two drop-off centers where residents can bring their electronics for recycling and that is open year-round.

Casey Hines (01:05)

Alright, now why is electronics recycling important for a city like Milwaukee?

Laura Stevens (01:10)

Yeah, I think it would stem first from our goal of diverting as many materials from landfill as possible whenever possible. And electronics are only becoming more abundant in our daily lives. They’ve become more complex than they used to be. It’s more than just a TV now. So providing residents with convenient and quick access to electronics recycling is really important for Milwaukee.

Casey Hines (01:36)

Yeah, thank you for that. I think that’s a great point. I think that really kind of helps set the scene for the conversation today. So let’s talk about some of the issues the city was facing with e-waste when you first took over your role at the City of Milwaukee. Can you tell me some of the biggest challenges that you were facing?

Laura Stevens (01:52)

I think some of the biggest challenges that a lot of communities experience across the board is education to residents, letting them know what their options are for recycling to begin with what should be collected and recycled for electronics and then where they can go with it. So for the City of Milwaukee, we do have the two drop-off centers which are open throughout the year and we really push that for residents as their opportunity to recycle those electronics.

We do collect such a wide range of it so most of the materials residents would have in their homes are collected at the drop-off centers. And then I think another piece of it is the amount of electronics that people collect and then just hang on to. So we all have our drawers of the old cell phones, the old, you know, when it comes to cell phones too, some of us may have had the non-smart phone ones, you know, we got grandparents with their old TVs, their old radios, and just really encouraging residents that they do not have to hang on to those materials, that there is a way that they can recycle them. So it’s kind of the two prong  attack. Education is one, knowing that they can have a place to recycle them and two is that they should be collecting them and bringing them to a place for electronic recycling.

Casey Hines (03:10)

Yeah, yeah, I think those are both great points really.

Laura, from a municipal perspective, what makes electronics different or more unique from some of those other materials that you mentioned accepting at your drop-off centers?

Laura Stevens (03:21)

So at our drop-off centers we collect materials like bulky waste, yard waste, and those can be a little bit more straightforward. You know, your grass clippings, your couches. But when it comes to electronics, it is a lot more complex because there’s so many different things. There’s your radios, your TVs, there’s the differences in TVs, your computer monitors, your printers. So it can be a little confusing of what all can be under that and definitely unique. Staff have to be more trained on the items that are coming through there, making a determination, especially now with batteries being a bigger concern, making sure that certain electronics are collected in a specific way.

So it’s not as easy as grass clippings go here and they can all go in one bin. But we also do have quite an extensive area for electronics. So our staff, thanks to dynamic, we always know which categories have to be sorted into which ways and that’s always really helpful and we always do have staff on site to help residents decide which area they need to go in within the electronics.

Casey Hines (04:25)

Yeah, yeah, I think those are those are challenges that a lot of municipalities can probably relate to. Now in Milwaukee, you’re working in a very largely populated area, with a variety of stakeholders to manage, and constantly evolving needs within the community. Can you talk a little bit about some of the things that you look for in a recycling partner to help manage those needs?

Laura Stevens (04:45)

One of the biggest ones and one that I felt has been really great with Dynamic is knowledge of the industry. There’s so many materials that somebody in my position, for example, needs to know about and we can’t be experts in everything. So it’s really great when we do work with experts that when I have a question about a certain item, whether or not it is or isn’t collected in our electronics collection program, I just reach out to you, Casey, and you always find me an answer right away if I have a question about E-Cycle Wisconsin, you’ve always been really great about walking me through some of those dynamics there. And then also something that’s really important for us is reliable service and convenient service. So it’s been really great to work with dynamic. We have a very tight space at each of our drop-off centers.

So instead of having to have a bunch of materials sitting and taking up storage area, we’re able to collect as many electronics and get it in a truck and then the truck is swapped in and out and that’s really convenient and really almost necessary when you have high volume drop-off centers like we do in the city Milwaukee.

Casey Hines (05:50)

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Thank you for saying that. It’s great to hear that things have been running smoothly and glad things are moving quickly for you.

Have there been any unexpected benefits within your recycling program, whether for the city, your residents, or even your internal teams that you didn’t foresee coming when you stepped into your role?

Laura Stevens (06:11)

I think one of the big benefits that isn’t maybe as obvious is the City Milwaukee of self hauls the material. So all the drivers that are picking up from curbside and carts are recycling in our garbage, our City of Milwaukee employees. And that is also the same for our two drop-off centers. And I really enjoy that because you get to know your team.

And then the drivers are also really connected into the communities that they’re servicing in. So it’s a really great pathway to really understanding residents throughout the city and how you might be able to change communication, how to better explain recycling options for residents that they have, including the drop off center. And then at the drop off center too, with staff being city of Milwaukee staff.

it’s great to be able to go there and know that you’re on, you’re with both with the city and you’re on the same team and that you’re able to have more access to training with staff too. So when there’s a change to the program or you think that there should be a revamp in some area, it’s really great to get the feedback from the city of Milwaukee staff, from the drivers, from the people on site working with residents to see how you can maybe kind of pivot a program to better serve residents when it comes to their recycling needs.

Casey Hines (07:37)

Very cool. That’s really encouraging to hear some of those impacts and that’s awesome. Thank you for sharing. And now I think we’re just going to close by maybe zooming out a bit. What lessons or advice would you share with other communities currently managing e-waste or looking to start a new program? And then really what’s next for Milwaukee?

Laura Stevens (07:55)

Yeah, so with City of Milwaukee, I’m really grateful that we do have the two drop-off centers and that they are open year-round. Residents can come throughout the week and on weekends. And I know not every community has that. Ours are permanent drop-off centers and a lot of smaller communities around the state do have to rely on events or they do not have locations at all. I think when it comes to items like that, it’s important to work with your regional contacts. So even with the city of I always look to the neighboring communities and seeing if there’s ways that we can collaborate on educating residents and getting, spreading kind of the resources out. So when I think of communities that don’t have permanent sites, maybe there is an opportunity there to partner up with their neighbors and either being able to provide more events or seeing if there is a way or a path forward to creating a permanent location for residents to be able to bring their electronics.

Casey Hines (08:57)

Yeah, I think that’s great advice. Lastly, and this might be a tricky one, looking ahead, what’s your vision for the future of electronics recycling within the city of Milwaukee?

Laura Stevens (09:06)

Yeah, I think we have a great program with our drop-off centers and we do collect many materials there already. I do hope for our city in the future that with the growing concern around batteries and battery containing devices and that gets really confusing for residents too. So in our industry we have the different vocabulary around a battery that can be removed versus what’s not and how that changes what can and can’t be collected.

So I’m hoping as we move forward, as electronics keep becoming more prevalent in the daily life, as they get more complex to their battery makeups and such that we are able to internalize that in the industry and not have to put that pressure on residents to have to figure out what they’re holding and what type of electronic it is and how they can dispose of it.

I hope that we can stay on a path of creating more access to residents, more convenient access for residents, for more electronics. Keeping up as the industry for electronics keeps expanding, keeps growing, we have new gadgets that we’re able to, our program can grow up with those materials as well.

Casey Hines (10:20)

Yeah, perfect. Well, Laura, thank you for sharing some of your story within Milwaukee here with us and your perspective with us today. Really is inspiring to hear how collaboration and commitment can make a real difference for both our local communities and the environment.