What will your city do when it runs out of space for trash? Madison, WI, has a plan, and it’s one that other cities could follow.

What could’ve just been another county landfill, slated to open in 2027, will instead be a “sustainability campus”, where local businesses will unite to more intentionally sort incoming waste, increase recycling intake, and generally aim to slow the flow of trash.

So instead of just collecting tons of waste like most other cities do, Madison is actually conducting research on the garbage, hoping to develop takeaways that lead to less trash long-term. And the coolest part is the public-private partnership of it all: Dane County has figured out a way to make money off all this trash it's collecting, which is funding projects like this new sustainability campus.

On this week's episode of "Your City Could Be Better", City Cast Madison host Bianca Martin breaks this all down for David, and together they uncover the quirks — and opportunities — that come with talking trash.

Mentioned on the show:

• Conversion of Dane County landfills into pollinator fields