People walking in the vicinity of Waukegan City Hall or the Metra railroad station carrying an empty coffee cup or soda can can dispose of it in a recycling bin rather than sending it to a landfill via a garbage can.
Ideas for commercial recycling in Waukegan were initiated during a discussion started at a meeting of the City Council’s Environment and Sustainability Committee in early February by Ald. Lynn Florian, 8th Ward, and has evolved into a pilot program with perhaps more to come.
With residents living in single-family, two-unit or three-apartment homes already recycling plastic containers, bottles, paper goods and more, Mayor Sam Cunningham said giving them the opportunity to do the same in commercial areas is a natural next move.
“Cleaning up our environment is an area of concern for all of us,” Cunningham said. “Finding ways to expand it in our community will make things better for the city, the community and the county.”
Waukegan started a two-month pilot commercial recycling program Monday with one receptacle next to a garbage can outside City Hall, and a second one at the train station, as the city makes an effort to show its waste hauler, LRS, that the program can be expanded.
Cunningham said City Hall and the train station are heavily trafficked areas where the city will be able to monitor what people place in the containers. If a person eats half a sandwich and puts the other half in a recycling bin with the bag, everything in the receptacle may go to a landfill.
“We want to make sure we have successful data to give us a successful pilot program,” he said.
Chris Garland, the city’s public works director, said the city will be watching the bins carefully to make sure garbage goes into the trash can and recyclables are placed in the recycling bin.
A successful two-month pilot program can mean expansion throughout downtown and beyond.
“We don’t want to look in the bin and see that all of it is not recyclable,” Garland said. “If there is one thing not recyclable, it’s all contaminated. We want to make sure it’s all recycled.”
Cris Manley, LRS’s general manager for northern Illinois, said his company will check the bins on a weekly basis for contaminants and report them to city officials. He wants to see no more than a “respectable” level of contamination.
Manley said if the data is acceptable, LRS and Waukegan can look at expanding the program. The results do not need to be perfect, but they need to be very good. Food waste is the biggest contaminant.
“What we don’t want to see is people walking, eating and discarding half a sandwich,” Manley said. “Pop cans, water bottles and coffee cups are what we hope to notice in the bin. We would also expect to see leaflets and papers.”
Earlier this year, Florian said she was talking to a bar and restaurant owner. He told her he would like to find a way to recycle the bottles, cans, paper goods and other items rather than throw them in the Dumpster near his tavern with other garbage.
“It all goes in the landfill because there is no other option,” she said. “It’s not just the taverns. There are large multifamily dwellings here, too. It’s important to encourage them to recycle and find a way for them to do it.”
While Florian said she is glad to see the pilot program, she hopes to see more in the future. Failure to find a solution is not only detrimental to the environment, it will eventually become costly.
“Our local landfill is going to fill up in the next 20 years,” she said of the facility on Green Bay Road near the Wisconsin state line. “When it’s full, we’ll have to go way out west. It’s not only bad for the environment, but it will increase the expense.”
If the pilot program is successful, Cunningham said the city will work with LRS to expand it, putting bins adjacent to garbage cans throughout the downtown area and in other commercial areas of the city.
“We have to focus on what we can do,” he said. “It’s something we want to push,” he added, referring to businesses recycling material. “It’s going to be good for the economy, and it will benefit our society.”
Apartment buildings of four units or more, office buildings, manufacturing plants, warehouses and other businesses contract for their own waste hauling. Some companies offer recycling services. Florian sees an opening for potential legislation.
“I’m hoping we can maybe pass an ordinance saying if you pick up garbage in Waukegan, you must offer recycling,” Florian said.
Walter Willis, the executive director of the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County, said, “It’s great” that Waukegan started its pilot program. There is a way municipalities can create a commercial franchise mandating recycling for commercial enterprises. It takes three years.
When commercial recycling is optional, Willis said between 20% and 25% of businesses participate. When a commercial franchise is put in place, the number of participants climbs to between 50% and 70%.
Willis said a municipality wishing to have a commercial franchise must spend three years gathering data. If less than 50% of businesses are not recycling by then, a franchise can be imposed. Overall, the results are usually good.
“We go slow and work with the business community,” Willis said. “When you have a community franchise, the garbage rates go down.”
Lake County municipalities with a community recycling franchise include Highland Park, Highwood, Deerfield, Bannockburn, Lake Bluff, Libertyville, Grayslake, Gurnee, Lindenhurst, Round Lake Beach and Volo.
