Milwaukee Common Council orders DPW to pick up Christmas trees,reversing controversial change

Public Works Committee called for a special meeting on Dec. 11 after the announcement by the Department of Public Works last week

Milwaukee Common Council’s Public Works Committee ordered the city’s Department of Public Works (DPW) to pick up Christmas trees left on the curb after the holiday, reversing a controversial change announced December 5, 2023.

The DPW announced it would no longer be able to pick up cut Christmas trees, after the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) recently clarified a rule classifying trees as yard waste, not holiday decorations. Yard waste is subject to a statewide landfill ban.

The DNR pushed back on that, telling WISN12 News the rule is decades old, and they have always considered cut Christmas trees to be yard waste.

At a special meeting on December 11, Common Council members grilled Rick Meyers, the DPW’s sanitation services manager, over the change.

“This a basic function of city government, it’s not splitting the atom,” said Alderman Mark Borkowski of Milwaukee’s 11th District. “I’m embarrassed and I’m discouraged.”

“I’ve received a ton of calls, a ton of emails,” said Alderman Lamont Westmoreland of Milwaukee’s 5th District. “People are pissed off. I’m pissed off about it.”

DPW said the DNR clarified to them trees would not be allowed to go into landfills last January. They held off on telling the public, saying they were waiting for more guidance from the DNR, and also didn’t want to send the message so early that people would forget about it.

“What we were looking for was some space, some public messaging from the DNR that either confirmed this for all communities, businesses, everyone in the state, or something else,” Meyers said. “As far as, you know, informing others, we thought that was their obligation. It is not our obligation to inform other communities in the state and business owners of the state changing a clarification. Again, I absolutely agree, and that’s on me that we did not bring this earlier.”

Waiting to announce the change did not sit with the council. Now they’re stepping in, demanding trees be picked up.

“The bottom line is, we are going to do a resolution at the council meeting. By immediate adoption, we’re going to direct the Department of Public Works to pick up the Christmas trees like they have in the past,” said Alderman Bob Bauman of Milwaukee’s 4th District. “How they pay for it, they’ll have to figure out because there will be an additional cost. Maybe they have to cut back on something else in their budget to make this happen. But to allow these trees to just sit on the curb for months, is just not acceptable.”

As for accountability, WISN 12 News asked Bauman if anyone would be held responsible for the confusion and frustration caused by this change.

“We’ll leave the mayor to worry about that,” Bauman said. “I mean, technically, all these people report to him. They’re his employees. I mean, he appoints the commissioner who was absent today, the department head who’s a member of the mayor’s cabinet. We don’t know what the mayor knew and when he knew it. That didn’t come up. And that’s fine. We’re trying to fix the problem as opposed to trying to point fingers and serve up heads on platters. We’re trying to fix the problem, and hopefully, the department and all the partners will get the message that the council should be viewed as partners, not adversaries and that we need to be in on these issues when they arise sooner rather than later.”

For now, trees will be picked up on the curb by DPW. Drop-off sites to have your tree mulched will also still be open. For more information on drop-off sites, visit https://city.milwaukee.gov/holiday-trees.