Results tagged “recycling”

The Illinois attorney general's office has sued a Chicago recycling company for misusing $88,000 of state grant money administered during former Gov. Rod Blagojevich's term, the Tribune reports.

Yes, it's true: Chicago's blue bag recycling program has been a resounding success. So much so, that we're now the greenest city in the world. And if that wasn't satisfaction enough to get the good people of the City that Works to step up to the plate and sort all those empty long necks out of their coffee grounds and chicken bones, the city is starting a pilot program that awards points to households that recycle on a regular basis.

46th Ward Alderman Helen Shiller, along with 1st Ward Alderman Manny Flores, proposed an ordinance Tuesday afternoon that requires new apartment buildings in the city to set aside space for recycling. New buildings with four or fewer units, which are served by the city's Streets and Sanitation Department, would be mandated to set aside space to sort and store recyclables and townhouses would have to have set aside space, either indoors or screened off outdoors for recycling. Buildings with five or more units, which are served by private waste haulers, would have to set aside space on each floor, or incorporate chutes to handle recyclable waste. "It's very difficult, right now, to actually comply with that ordinance, give that there is minimal space," Flores told the Tribune.

Oh Lord, do we like hearing about things like this: a new company called The Special E functions solely to salvage leftovers from special events like weddings or conferences, often rescuing mighty amounts of food and other event leavings from getting tossed in the trash. The for-profit “green” organization, which services 30 major metropolitan areas, has already been hired for half a dozen Chicago events, including Ameriprise Financial's recent national conference at the Field Museum.

Dear Ask Chicagoist,

We've heard about "going green," but Chicago 2016 is taking recycling to a whole new level. Spokesman Patrick Sandusky stated that the group has been in discussion with London officials about possibly reusing parts of London's stadium, being built for the 2012 Summer Olympics, in the proposed Washington Park stadium. Sandusky claims, "What's important to note is they have a similar concept in terms of re-purposing the stadium, so we're talking to them about how to best use a stadium and how to leave the best legacy." Both stadiums would hold around 80,000 seats for each city's respective games, but the London stadium will be renovated to a 25,000 permanent seat structure, while the Chicago stadium would only hold 5,000 post-Olympic permanent seats under current plans.

Even if recycling London's stadium isn't feasible, Sandusky said the talks are worth it.

Continue reading "Proposed Chicago Olympic Stadium To Get London's Sloppy Seconds?"

Dear Chicagoist,

Cartoon for Chicagoist by Tim Daly

Wow, file under "took us long enough": By 2011, all of Chicago will have curbside blue-cart recycling. [CBS 2]

On Tuesday, Secretary of State Jesse White unveiled a program that allows Illinois motorists to recycle old or obsolete license plates. For a few weeks now, license plate recycling bins have been available outside each of the 136 Secretary of State vehicle facilities, but the recycling program was officially announced on Tuesday, in order to coincide with Earth Day.

Surprise, surprise: Chicago will not be banning retail stores from distributing plastic bags anytime soon, but steps are being taken to institute a plastic bag recycling program. According to the Sun-Times, Alderman Ed Burke from the 14th Ward proposed a "San Francisco-style ban on non-compostable plastic bags" last May, but he was ultimately forced to compromise. Now, Burke is joining Economic Development Committee Chairman Marge Laurino from the 39th Ward in proposing a much softer ordinance that instead of banning bags creates bag recycling options.

People living in Wards 5 and 8 should be feeling extra smug today, since as of April 1, they can recycle using Chicago's Blue Cart program. Say "sayonara" to frustrating blue bags and "hola" to your new friends, blue carts.

Although it's pretty much a given that Daley will coast to re-election at the end of next month, by no means does it mean that his time is office has been an unmitigated success. In a report card scheduled to be issued today by a coalition of interest groups and local activists called "Developing Government Accountability to the People," Daley received low grades in many areas, including economic development, transportation, education, criminal justice and ethics....

Environmental Painting?

Recycling rules, everyone knows that. We like to see people recycling all manner of things. But when we read that libraries are sending books to the recycling center in Woodstock, we couldn't help but wonder - isn't there a better way to recycle a book?

When Chicagoist is ready to get rid of an old computer or gadget, we try to donate it somewhere. We know, that 233 MHz, 32 MB RAM PC with a dot matrix printer may not be a hot seller at the Salvation Army store, but as long as it's working, we figure someone could get some use out of it, if anything for a stress reliever. But sometimes the damn thing is just broken, a worthless piece of electronic detritus, and dumping it on someone else isn't a morally acceptable option. Tossing it in the trash doesn't feel right either, because we know there are various and sundry metals and plastics inside that will likely outlive the human race.

Oh blue bags, how we will miss mocking your irrelevance in the world of recycling. After a successful test of the 96-gallon blue carts in the Beverly neighborhood, the city will be tilting the carts onto their back wheels and rolling them to 7 wards throughout the city.

We have a confession to make: We don’t recycle. At least, not at home. We know, it’s important to do, and we should do it. Really, we’re not proud of ourselves.

Because Chicago's recycling program just ain't convoluted (and ineffective) enough, Daley wants to add yet another confusing step to the process.

Chicagoist has been remiss in missing the missives on missing recycling. And so we pick up the story with Mayor Richard M. Daley's press conference yesterday: It's all your fault. Ours, the citizenry, we mean. But not the city's. And certainly not the Mayor's. Nope.

What an opportunity to talk about our favorite topics! Recycling and Big Brother! In case you haven't heard, Chicago's Blue Bag recycling program is teetering on total failure. Not only is barely anyone participating, the material is getting blended into the rest of the trash, and getting plowed into an Indiana field. Meanwhile, City Council has approved a pilot curbside pickup program.