The Waunakee Rotary Club was talking trash on March 16, but it wasn’t related to March Madness or brackets.
James Leszczynski from Advanced Disposal in Waunakee talked about that company’s operations. Jim is the general manager who also works at plants in other cities.
Their mission is service first, safety always, and they try to be a community leader and develop customer loyalty and employee engagement.
They’re always looking for fresh ideas for businesses to achieve a cleaner environment, along with cost effective and environmentally sound solutions for the collection of trash and recycling and transportation.
Now, Advanced Recycling is public traded.
They provide waste and recycling reduction, disposal facilities and use trucks that run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).
In Waunakee, the company has a hauling station, transfer station and material recovery facility. The Waunakee plant employs 65 full-time people and 8-10 who work at the material recovery facility.
It has six industrial routes collecting from larger industrial locations, 15 commercial routes and nine residential routes using 27 CNG fueled trucks and 13 diesel trucks.
The residential routes all use automated trucks that pick up the trash bins.
“The need to ensure the safety of our employees has changed,” Jim said.
That’s resulted in greater employee retention and better response to OSHA requirements.
It also keeps drivers in the truck rather than having to exit into traffic and be at risk for other passing vehicles.
The employees also pick up larger items, such as e-waste consisting of televisions and appliances.
At Waunakee’s transfer station, the company processes 315 tons daily. Its landfills are in Delavan and Horicon.
The material recovery facility in Waunakee processes 170 tons of recyclables such as paper, plastics and aluminum that get compressed and transported for sale.

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Other News:
-President Travis Heiser read a thank you letter from the Shelter Box organization that revealed an interesting situation. While in Somalia, where 18 months of drought have added hardship, a Shelter Box group noticed a lone tent. A closer look revealed it was an earlier version of the Rotary shelters that had been repurposed into a tea shop.
-Phil Willems presented a $1,750 check to Jim Malone of the Waunakee girls’ volleyball boosters, who helped set up and staff the Rotary Lights Display for seven days.
-John Cullen presented a $500 check to Village Administrator Todd Schmitz for the downtown mural planned for Main Street.

 

Guests: Paul Cardella and Liz Deihs, guests of Allison Feldbruegge.  

Visiting Rotarians: None.