Recycling bins on way in - Blue bags dumped in 7 Chicago wards

Recycling bins on way in - Blue bags dumped in 7 Chicago wards
By Dan Mihalopoulos and Laurie Cohen
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
Published October 21, 2006

Suburban-style, curbside recycling containers will replace the unpopular blue bags at homes in Chicago's 1st, 5th, 8th, 19th, 37th, 46th and 47th Wards, under a plan city and state officials are expected to announce Saturday.

The plan calls for the state to give the city $8 million over the next four years to help buy the containers, according to a draft press release obtained by the Tribune. Sources familiar with the plans confirmed details on the condition they not be named.

The expansion represents another step away from Mayor Richard Daley's controversial blue bag program. Daley has long defended the program, under which residents buy plastic bags and put recyclables such as cans, paper and plastic in them. The bags are thrown into trucks with the rest of the garbage.

But Daley said last month his administration was planning to expand a pilot recycling program in the city's Beverly neighborhood to other areas of the city. For the last year and a half, homes in the pilot area have placed recyclables in bins that are left curbside. The city collects those recyclables separately from garbage.

Only 13 percent of Chicago households participate in the blue bag program, according to a 2003 study by the Daley administration.

The city recycles about 8 percent of its garbage, far short of the 25 percent goal set by Daley when he introduced the program more than a decade ago.

In the 19th Ward pilot area, however, participation in curbside recycling reached 80 percent, city officials said.

That approach will be expanded to the rest of the 19th Ward and six other wards. The chosen wards represent a racially diverse mix of neighborhoods, including some with a high interest in recycling.

If the initial phase of the expansion is successful, the Daley administration "could further expand separate-container recycling throughout the rest of the city," according to a press release drafted by state officials for Saturday's announcement.

Daley's environment commissioner, Sadhu Johnston, declined comment on the program.

Chicago is the only major U.S. city that uses blue bags to recycle, and many environmentalists have called for the city to adopt the curbside approach, which is used in most suburbs.

----------

dmihalopoulos@tribune.com

lcohen@tribune.com