Curbside food waste collection? Deposits for cans and bottles? Study tosses out ideas to improve Chicago’s dismal recycling rate

Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday released a long-awaited report on Chicago’s waste stream tailor-made to reduce the volume of garbage and improve the city’s dismal recycling rates.

The report contains 63 “strategic recommendations” aimed at easing the burden on Chicago taxpayers by reducing landfill costs, minimizing contamination of recyclables, increasing diversion and confronting environmental inequities that have turned the Southeast Side into a dumping ground.

But the report’s author, the Delta Institute, provided no concrete blueprint for City Hall to follow. It spelled out only suggestions, including some tried in other cities and states, that Chicago might consider adopting.

“This will set a new direction,” said Angela Tovar, the city’s chief sustainability officer. “Some of these are optimal strategies and some are really practical.”

Among the aspirational recommendations, the report noted, is adding deposits to the cost of bottles and cans, something 10 other states have done to keep those items out of landfills.

“Michigan’s Bottle Deposit Law, enacted in 1976, established a 10-cent deposit on beverage containers. The deposit is refunded upon returning the empty container to a participating retailer for recycling. Over $338 million in refunds were processed in 2019, representing an 88.7 percent refund rate,” the report states.

Other suggestions include:

• Providing collection of food-waste and other organic waste material for all residents served by the Department of Streets and Sanitation who opt-in.

“With significant education and infrastructure investment, curbside collection for all interested Chicagoans could significantly reduce the volume of materials sent to landfills and help curb contamination in recycling streams,” the report states.

• Instead of continuing with “single-source recycling” — in which different types of recyclables are all put in the same blue cart to be picked up by refuse crews — Chicago might consider decreasing materials it accepts for recycling, having residents sort some items into separate bins first or picking up recyclables more frequently.

“While single-stream recycling … is convenient for residents and haulers and can increase the tonnage of material collected for recycling, processing costs and contamination rates are often higher than in multi-stream recycling,” the report states.

Twenty-nine municipalities across the nation have started limiting the type of items accepted to improve the quality of recycled material for reprocessing, the Delta Institute said.

“Flagstaff, Arizona collects only metal cans and pans, paper, cardboard and plastic bottles, jugs and jars. All other plastics and glass are not accepted in curbside collection,” the reports states.

“In Emmet County, Michigan, residents are offered dual-stream recycling options with two separate bins — one for paper, cardboard and plastic bags and one for plastic, metal and glass containers.”

• Reducing the estimated 11.6 million pounds of plastic flooding Lake Michigan each year by enacting a stalled ordinance prohibiting Chicago restaurants and carryout places from using foam containers and requiring the provide plastic straws and food utensils only on request.

• Re-establishing the city’s Department of Environment — a promise that Lightfoot campaigned on, only to renege.

• Providing a central website or app for Chicagoans to opt out of unwanted mail.

• Establishing “repair cafes” to keep bulk items like appliances, e-waste and textiles out of curbside recycling and waste streams and create “opportunities for skill-building” for those working at the cafes.

• Establishing more recycling and reuse of construction and demolition debris.

• Establishing drop-off locations where Chicagoans can bring yard waste and food scraps.

• Strengthening the yard waste collection program with “resources and staff to allow for regular seasonal pick-ups as opposed to making residents use 311 to request a pickup.

• Requiring Chicago’s largest food waste generators, like grocery stores, to divert their waste through donation and composting.

• Updating zoning on where waste operations can be located to reduce environmental impacts, particularly in traditional dumping grounds.

• Regularly reviewing and optimizing refuse collection routes, which were switched from a ward-by-ward to a grid system in 2013.

In a press release, Lightfoot hailed the long-awaited report as an “exciting opportunity to take new and innovative approaches” to Chicago’s waste issues.

“We look forward to swiftly implementing many of the recommendations … and developing a modern materials management system that minimizes landfilling, advances our city’s ambitious sustainability goals and prioritizes the needs of our residents,” the mayor was quoted as saying.

One of the near-term practical strategies the city has already begun doing is cracking down on apartment and condo buildings that don’t adhere to the city’s recycling rules, said Deputy Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Chris Sauve. That move came at the urging of the city’s top watchdog.

Overall, there’s no place to go but up. After decades of fits and starts, Chicago’s recycling rate still hovers around 8 or 9 percent of all stuff thrown out.

Brett Chase’s reporting on the environment and public health is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust.