Blue cart recycling
From GreenWiki
At the end of July, residents of the 47th Ward (Gene Schulter) will be provided blue recycling carts which will replace the blue bag recycling program for those areas.
A separate recycling truck will collect the bins every other week.
April reports on last weekend’s Blue Cart community meeting: (mid July) The program is being rolled out in our area next week (south of Montrose, we get the carts, delivered to the front of everyone's house [for advertising, as it were], on Monday, July 16th. North of Montrose, for the 46 & 47th wards, the delivery is on Monday, July 30th. One cart per household (and 2 and 3 flats, I believe). You can call 3-1-1 if you need a second cart, but they will then take away one of your black, regular waste, carts. Each residence must have at least one black cart. Also, if people don't want the blue cart, they can call 3-1-1 to have it removed. The blue carts will be pick up (in the
alley) on an every other week pick up service.
The service has improved considerably in that we don't have to use blue bags, if we don't want to. The recyclables can be comingled; nothing needs to be separated. The number of plastic recyclables has been increased as well, not only are 1's and 2's still taken, but 3, 4, 5, and 7's (on the recycling symbol). Also they mentioned that you do NOT need to: a) clean out your containers before putting them in the cart, b) take the lids off jar containers or plastic containers, and c) take labels off of glass jars, etc.
There will not be tickets issued for non-participation at this point.
Yard waste is also being picked up separately on a 3rd pick up from April through November. We were instructed to simply put yard waste to the side of either the blue or black carts, not inside these. There is no special bag that must be used for yard waste.
Alderman Schulter really believes we can have a great participation rate. Part of that is having block captains for the blue cart program. If anyone wants to be a block captain, they can write to the email below (Shelli Bruno).
The city is currently getting about an average of $45 dollars/ton of recycling from their vendor, Waste Management, which is selling the recyclables for around $115 dollars/ton (very rough numbers given). The Waste Management representative did say that there is currently more demand than supply for recyclables, which I found surprising, but hopeful. If the city continues to see participation rates increase in the program, then it will be rolled out city wide.
April
There are community meetings coming up with more information:
Thursday July 12th 7pm at Lake View High School social room 4015 N Ashland Tuesday, July 17th 7pm Bell School Auditorium 3730 N Oakley and Tuesday, July 24th 7pm St. Matthias School Gym 4910 N. Clarement
For more details, please call The Chicago Department of Environment at 312 744 5702 or visit <http://www.bluecartschicago.org>
