City Wide Recycling LLC, a Milwaukee-based company that specializes in recycling construction site waste of all types, is expanding its existing facility by almost 50 percent and building a new recycling facility in the Town of Norway Business Park.
Opened in November, 2006, City Wide Recycling recycles construction waste including shingles, wood, metals, stone and other materials that traditionally end up in landfills. The company uses a multi-million dollar recycling system, which helps separate and sort material brought in by the truckload.
The three-story system, installed in February, has greatly increased CWR’s capacity, Hansen said, said John Hansen, co-founder and co-owner of the company. It features a series of conveyor belts, screens and filters, with multiple picking stations and bins for materials.
“Our capacity and recovery rate has gone way up,” Hansen said. “We’ve doubled what we make on commodities like metals and cardboard.”
The company has 27 employees, aside from Hansen and Eric Konik, his business partner.
The company’s Milwaukee facility is now about 43,000 square feet. Work will begin on its 14,000 square foot addition later this month, Hansen said. CWR also purchased 13 acres behind its building for the addition and extra maneuvering room, he said.
CWR will break ground on its second facility later this year, Hansen said, in Norway’s business park in northern Racine County. The business park is located on Highway 45 about two miles south of landfills in Muskego and Franklin.
The location will capture much of the construction waste going to those landfills, Hansen said, because most waste generated south if I-94 is sent to those landfills.
“I know there is an equal amount of recyclable waste coming from the south,” Hansen said. “We can also draw from Racine and Kenosha.”
The new facility will be about 60,000 square feet and will feature a sorting and picking system similar to the one CWR uses in Milwaukee. The company will employ 25 to 30 employees at the site when it opens, Hansen said.
The new facility will be a $5 million to $10 million investment.
CWR is awaiting final approval from the Town of Norway before it finalizes its purchase of about eight acres in the town’s business park. Once approval is given, the company will be able to finalize construction plans, Hansen said.
The company is already thinking of several other locations for additional construction recycling facilities, Hansen said, particularly in the Madison and Fox Valley markets.
“The timing is kind of up in the air now,” he said. “It depends on the comfort level of the bank.”
