Madison, Wis. (Learfield) - Wisconsin’s 20-year-old mandatory recycling law would be tossed in the garbage under Governor Scott Walker’s next state budget. The Republican Walker says communities would no longer be required to have recycling programs – and those that do would stop getting state money to help run them. Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie says the goal is to help communities cut their costs by reducing state mandates, while helping fix the state’s budget deficit at the same time. But Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said Walker “doesn’t want us to recycle.” And he says the governor is quote, “continuing his assault on any environmental program he can see.” Barrett said Milwaukee’s landfill costs would jump by two-and-a-half million dollars a year due to higher dumping fees that won’t go away. Lynn Morgan of Waste Management said Wisconsin needs to grow recycling, not gut it. Her company has spent up to 35-million dollars on recycling facilities in southeast Wisconsin, most of it for a plant in Germantown. She said garbage is marketable, but it needs state mandates and subsidies to flourish. But Waukesha County administration director Norm Cummings vows to keep recycling alive. He said high prices for metals have allowed his programs to build up some reserve funds to keep programs going.
