Portage County, WI Trash & Recycling: Recycling Requirements (2026)

Section 4.8.2(1) makes 'all persons in Portage County,' including occupants of single-family and two-to-four-unit residences (seasonal residents included), multiple-family dwellings of five or more units, and nonresidential facilities and properties, subject to mandatory recyclables separation under Wis. Admin. Code NR 544.06(2)(a). Subsection (2) lists what must be kept separate, clean and protected from wind and rain: newspapers, magazines, corrugated paper, office paper, glass containers, aluminum containers, steel containers, bi-metal containers, rigid plastic containers (PETE, HDPE, PVC, LDPE, PP, PS and other resins), foam polystyrene packaging, lead acid batteries, tires, major appliances, yard waste, used oil and oil filters, and covered electronic peripherals such as TVs, VCRs and fax machines.

Subsection (3) carves out three exemptions: waste sent to a DNR-licensed facility that already recovers those same materials in as pure a form as possible; solid waste burned as supplemental fuel where less than 30 percent of a facility's heat input comes from that waste; and materials granted a Wisconsin DNR variance under Wis. Stat. § 287.11(2m) or Wis. Admin. Code NR 544.14. Multi-family owners who don't use a qualifying processing facility face added duties under § 4.8.3, including recycling-container volume of at least 20 gallons per unit per week (or a 2:1 trash-to-recycling ratio) and semiannual written notice to tenants about the program.