New Berlin, WI Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Section 220-4 defines RECYCLABLE MATERIALS as whatever the County of Waukesha multi-material recycling facility deems recyclable, tying the local rule to the county's actual processing capability rather than a fixed local list, and defines RECYCLING CONTAINERS as only those approved by the Director of Utilities and Streets Operations. Section 220-5 A then sets the two obligations that follow from those definitions: no homeowner or apartment dweller may fail to separate recyclables from nonrecyclable materials, and no one may use a recycling container other than the one defined in § 220-4 if the dwelling has four units or fewer.

Section 220-5 B clarifies the limit of the mandate: nothing in the article forces a resident to accept or use the drive-up recycling service a garbage contractor offers, so a household that hauls its own recyclables elsewhere is not automatically noncompliant, but material set out with the City's contracted service still has to be properly separated and containerized. Under the related licensing section, § 220-6 F, a contractor may refuse to collect improperly separated material, leaving it for the resident who set it out to remove.