Piling on the profits

City Wide capitalizes on push to recycle construction waste

A hauler dumps construction waste into City Wide Recycling’s plant on the north side of Milwaukee. City Wide profits by charging haulers tipping fees and recycling materials. Photos submitted by City Wide Recycling LLC

City Wide Recycling uses a three-story sorter to pull out most construction waste to be recycled. The company can process up to 70 tons per hour.

Since opening in October 2006, City Wide Recycling expanded its plant, 10700 W. Brown Deer Road, Milwaukee, from 20,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet and is in the process of adding another 15,000 square feet.

John Hansen and Eric Konik said they thought contractors were wasting their time sorting construction waste on-site.

That’s why the partners started an off-site sorting business in October 2006.

Their company, City Wide Recycling LLC, Milwaukee, experienced 100 percent growth each year since.

The company recently expanded its north Milwaukee plant from 20,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet and is in the process of adding another 15,000 square feet. The company also plans to build a second location on the south side.

Bill Snow, a sales manager for Waste Management Inc., which hauls materials to City Wide, said the key to the company’s success seems obvious. Before City Wide, Milwaukee contractors interested in being green had no choice but to do all the sorting themselves, he said.

“Instead of what we used to do — put [recyclable construction materials] into four different boxes because it’s going to four different sites, now we can commingle and let the customer see the benefit of decreasing contamination,” Snow said. “The contractors can worry about building and not policing their construction containers.”

City Wide Recycling saves contractors time and money by sorting recyclable construction materials and waste for them.

The company sells contractors on the idea of asking their haulers to bring construction waste to its facility.

City Wide Recycling profits by charging the haulers a tipping fee, much like landfills do, and by recycling the materials.

Hansen said contractors are compelled to ask haulers to use City Wide Recycling because the service lets them avoid paying for multiple Dumpsters on-site and using skilled labor to sort garbage.

“It’s a no-brainer,” Konik said. “If you could take [construction waste] to a recycle center rather than the landfill with no added cost, why wouldn’t you?”

Hansen said the idea for the business came from Chicago, where there is a requirement to recycle construction waste and at least 12 companies providing the same service as City Wide Recycling.

He said his company is the only one offering off-site recycling in the state.

Hansen said the company uses a sorter that’s three-stories tall to remove most recyclable material, such as concrete and metal, and hand-sorts the rest.

He said the firm processes up to 70 tons per hour. With the average Dumpster weighing in at four tons, he said the firm can get through up to 18 Dumpsters every 60 minutes.

The company returns debris it can’t recycle to Waste Management, Hansen said.

“We’re amazed at all the things we pull out that people still send that to the landfill and bury it,” Konik said.

Hansen said he expects the company to keep growing, especially if Milwaukee imposes a recycling mandate on new construction.

“There’s been such a green movement,” Hansen said.

— Janine Anderson