Waste Reduction
In 2023, the Streets Division collected 44,678.15 tons of trash from the tan carts.
And in 2023, the Dane County Landfill charged $50.88 for every ton of trash they received from us.
This means all of our garbage cost all of us taxpayers a little over $2.25 million dollars in 2023. But that's underestimating the actual cost.
That number does not include the fuel and labor it costs to get the trash from our homes and drive it out to the landfill. That number does not include all of the furniture, or other bulky items we collect that winds up in the landfill, too.
Nor does it consider the environmental consequences of our waste.
And just think - the Streets Division does not collect from everyone within Madison. Everyone with a big metal dumpster? That's not picked up by the City. So that's tons and tons of garbage not accounted for in the number above.
So, what do we do?
How do we make less trash not only for environmental purposes but just to lower the tax dollars we spent on burying stuff we don't want anymore?