That Daley Sure Is Crazy About Bags

By Sam Bakken in News on Jun 2, 2005 9:20PM

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

Da Mare said yesterday that he now wants to ask residents to separate their food waste from regular waste because it can be turned into compost and sold. Uhm...OK...we'd probably do it, but let's get one bag program under control before we add another.

The Sun-Times says the city will have to distribute separate containers for the organic waste. Really? How about separate bins for recyclables so we don't have to worry about those goddamned bags? Daley also said he's looking into compartmentalizing the city's waste removal trucks to separate trash from recyclables at the pick-up point. Fine, seems like a good idea. At least it might convince some of us that our recyclables are actually being recycled. But again, and sorry to keep harpin', keep it simple Daley. We need separate containers next to our dumpster.

The city has introduced a pilot program in the Beverly neighborhood that, similar to most suburban programs, provides 96-gallon bins for recyclables. These bins are emptied by a separate Streets and Sanitation truck once a week. We couldn't find anything on how long the "pilot" aspect of the plan is expected to last, but we hope it's not long. We don't think the plan will be anything but successful and we hope it's expanded tout de suite.