Get ready to see recycling in action! A tour of the Tri-County Recycling Facility in Appleton offers a behind-the-scenes look at what happens to your recyclables after they leave the curb. You'll follow the journey of paper, cardboard, plastic bottles, and cans as they move through our high-tech sorting system.
Tours begin with an overview of the recycling process and safety guidelines, then you'll head into our observation areas overlooking the main sorting floor. From there, you’ll see how materials are unloaded, sorted by size and type, separated using advanced equipment like spinning discs, air jets, and optical sorters, and finally compressed into bales ready for market.
Along the way, you'll learn about:
- The people and machines behind the sorting process
- Common mistakes in recycling (and how to avoid them)
- What happens to the materials after they leave the facility
- How your actions at home directly impact the quality of recycling
The tour lasts approximately 45–90 minutes and includes time for questions. It’s a great learning experience for students, community groups, and anyone curious about how recycling really works. Two simultaneous tours are being offered to accommodate the potential interest by our LWVAF-C members.
Tours begin at 11:30.
Tour One: Facility- this allows for 19 participants to enter the observation floor and learn the process from start to finish. This tour entails use of many stairs.
Tour Two: Classroom requires fewer stairs and is predominantly in an observation classroom where participants will receive the same information.
This is truly a specially arranged opportunity for our League. Jordan Hiller called in a supervisor from another facility to accommodate the size of our group.