Union: Charge $10 For Recycling

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Sep 21, 2010 3:40PM

With the city trying to climb its way out of a $650 million budget hole next year, one union is suggesting a new fee on recycling to help knock out at least a little chunk of that debt. Laborers Union Local 1001 is proposing that all 600,000 households with garbage pick-up pay a $10 monthly recycling fee. Doing the math results in an influx of $72 million for the city and the labor is pitching the idea to aldermen. The union's business manager Lou Phillips told the Sun-Times:

"If they go to a private scavenger that saves 10 percent, aldermen will still have 50 percent of their constituents mad at them because they can't recycle. People pay all over for garbage collection and recycling. Arlington Heights has a fee that just went up 3.5 percent. It's something the city has never done before, but something the city has to look at."

Mike Nowak, president of the Chicago Recycling Coalition, said the idea's not outlandish but that residents may balk at an additional $120 a year in fees. "People are gonna think that's a lot of money. I don't see how this could get through at this point....It's gonna be a very difficult thing to pass."