For Waukesha County, Wisconsin, GBB, as a subconsultant to RRT, assisted in the evaluation and development of a single-stream MRF feasibility study that reviewed the existing 15-year-old County dual-stream MRF and the business opportunity to expand the dual-stream MRF, build a new modern dual-stream MRF, or develop a new larger single-stream MRF for the County, which would also potentially provide capacity for several nearby municipalities as a regional single-stream MRF project.

For the past several years, there has been no significant increase in the level of recyclables generated by the participating communities and processed at the County MRF. This led to the review of options to increase materials collected/recycled.  Specifically, GBB evaluated the recyclables generation rates for each of the 25 municipalities currently participating in the County MRF, as well the potential recyclables flows from the Cities of Wauwatosa and Milwaukee for a 15-year planning period. GBB developed a detailed PowerPoint presentation of the current dual-stream collection system and what would be required to modify that to a single-stream collection program, including estimates of the increased recyclables that should result based on other programs that have been changed. GBB staff interviewed the local waste haulers and discussed the availability of private single-stream MRFs in the region that could potentially handle the expanded County recyclables single-stream materials without a major County financial investment in a new plant.

GBB staff developed the rationale for the single-stream MRF waste quantity expectation and reviewed the capital and O&M costs estimates developed by the prime consultant and assisted with developing all of the Project Presentations that were presented at four public sessions during the course of the study.