Master Recycler Class Returns April 6
If you’ve been meaning to take the Master Recycler class from Sustain Dane & the City of Madison, now is your chance.
There will be two offerings of the class this year.
The first chance will be coming up in April. Here’s a link to enroll in the April session.
If the timing of the April class doesn’t work, fear not, there is a July class this year as well. Here’s the link to enroll in that session.
What is the Master Recycler class? Its two 90-minute online classes per session that provide a deeper dive into recycling, and other sustainable materials management practices. The ultimate goal is for you to leave trained and confident to share this recycling information with your social circles through some sort of planned outreach project. Could be a newsletter, a presentation, a delightful viral video, lessons for the kiddos in your elementary school class – the options are practically endless.
You see, while recycling information is available, few seek it out. Instead they turn to social media threads, or work conversations, and so on, and it’s easy for misinformation, half-remembered facts, and rumors to infect those interactions that will never involve the actual official recycling guidance. The hope is that Master Recyclers (like you, perhaps) could be the expert to pierce these information bubbles with a bit of the real information about recycling guidance.
By the way – we’re not wild about the name “Master Recycler” but we’re coming up short on solid ideas to use instead. If you have a good one, let me know.
The 2023 Recyclopedias Are Here!
Sorry for the delay in getting these out, but the news about us being able to recycle televisions, computers, and laptops for free this year broke a little late and that caused a delay with the booklet.
The paper copies are available at your public library branches.
While you’re there, check out a book or three. Especially for Saturday – nothing better to do on a snowy spring morning that curl up with a new book.
Copies can also be mailed to you directly. You just have to contact the Streets Division office that services your home to have one sent out.
A digital copy can be downloaded here.
We have a digital copy of a Spanish version of the Recyclopedia on our website as well. Paper copies of the Spanish one haven’t yet arrived from the printer, but they should be at our offices and at the libraries any day now. Chinese and Hmong translations are still in the process of being completed.
Brush Collection Starts Soon!
Yes, brush collection gets underway in early April.
Brush is things like fallen branches, or other woody material that you have trimmed from your trees, shrubs, and bushes that measure over 18 inches in length. This material is turned into wood mulch (which is available to the public – check our mulch website: www.cityofmadison.com/Mulch).
As we’ve done for a few years now, there is a fixed schedule for when you should set out brush to the curb.
To get those dates you just have to follow two easy steps:
- Go to www.cityofmadison.com/BrushCollection
- Put your address into the form
And then put the brush out for pickup on the dates shown for your home. Crews will not be in areas early, and they do not circle back through after your pickup occurred.
The best bet is to put it out on the Sunday shown on the website, and then your brush will be collected by the end of the following work week.
Yard Waste Collection Beginning Later in April
Yard waste is different than brush.
Yard waste is the more plant-like stuff – think of it like leaves, weeds, grass clippings, and the other stuff you rake or pull from your lawn or garden.
Yard waste pickup will get underway a little later in April than we have done in prior years. The rationale is that it can still be kind of cold early April and folks aren’t too keen on tending to their lawns quite yet.
Everyone will get one yard waste collection opportunity in mid-April, and another one in early May.
We haven’t published a news release about this yet because the start of this service is still a few weeks away. But if you want to learn your yard waste set out dates to put them on your calendar today, you can.
You just have to follow to very easy (and familiar) steps:
- Go to www.cityofmadison.com/YardWaste
- Put your address into the form
Next you will see the two spring set out dates for yard waste. Put your yard waste out for pickup on the date shown. Collection will occur sometime during the work week following the set out Sunday.
As always there are two collection opportunities in the spring, and then a pause through the summer months as crews are needed on other duties, and then yard waste pickup returns in the fall.
Drop-off Sites Are Different – Just Like Last Year
The Badger Rd drop-off site is permanently closed. The resident services office at 1501 W Badger Rd will remain the same. It’s just the drop-off site will no longer be there.
If you get your Municipal Services bill in the mail as opposed to digitally, this probably isn’t a surprise to you because we included this guide in with the bill.
The drop-off site guide explains the hours and locations for the sites this year.
The same information is available from the drop-off site website: www.cityofmadison.com/DropOffSites.
Drop-off site hours expand on April 3, 2023.
Check our website to be sure you know when and where to go if you are using the drop-off sites.
The Last Bit
Before we go – yes, food scraps recycling is returning in 2023 to the same farmers’ markets as last year.
