Is City Hall Passing up Recycling Revenue?

By Kevin Robinson in News on Feb 18, 2010 3:00PM

The Sun-Times is reporting that a deal worth at least $40 million over the next 10 years might be stalled for want of a city Chief Environmental Officer. Steve Holland, founder of Aurora-based Free Green Can tells the paper that he was close to inking a deal with Chicago that would have put 25,000 free trash and recycling bins around the city featuring advertising. Holland says that he was close to a deal with the city after a test at deployment last summer that put 65 bins at the Taste of Chicago. The deal stalled after Chicago's Chief Environmental Officer left the city to take a job in Vancouver.

The company is offering the city 10 percent of all advertising revenues over the next ten years, with a minimum of $4 million annually guaranteed. The company also claims that the city will save an additional $4 million a year in associated costs. Environment Department spokesman Larry Merritt told the Sun-Times that the Daley administration remains "open to ideas that could generate revenue for Chicago taxpayers." Unfortunately, during an "informational meeting" with Holland, the concern that a citywide installation of the units was raised that Chicago could be in violation of it's 20 year agreement with JC Decaux, the French corporation that maintains bus shelters and sidewalk billboards for the city.