De Pere, WI Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Section 82-4(c) governs how collectable recyclables must be handled once solid waste is ready for pickup. Recyclables must be separated from garbage and other solid waste and placed for collection in the proper polycart, not mixed into the garbage cart. Paragraph (1) requires occupants of single-family through four-unit residences to separate recyclables from garbage 'to the greatest extent practicable' and to keep the recyclables clean and free of contaminants such as produce residue, oil or grease, or other nonrecyclable material including household hazardous waste, medical waste and agricultural chemical containers, then store them under section 82-3 protected from wind, rain and other weather before placing them curbside under section 82-4.

Owners or agents of multifamily dwellings carry heavier duties under paragraph (3): they must provide separate recycling containers, notify tenants in writing at move-in and at least twice a year about the recycling program, arrange for collection and delivery of separated materials to a recycling facility, and tell tenants what materials are collected, how to prepare them, and who to contact. Commercial, institutional and manufacturing property owners face parallel duties under paragraph (4). Both sets of duties fall away under paragraph (5) if the postconsumer waste instead goes to a state Department of Natural Resources-licensed processing facility that recovers recyclables in as pure a form as is technically feasible, or if a DNR variance applies.

Chapter 82's general enforcement provision, section 82-10, makes any violation of the chapter's recycling requirements punishable by municipal citation, with the forfeiture amount set by common council resolution and each 24-hour period of continued noncompliance treated as a separate offense.