Joint Committee on Ethics and Government Oversight and Environmental Protection and Energy
December 16, 2020 City Council
RESOLUTION CALLING FOR A HEARING ON THE CITY OF CHICAGO COMMERCIAL AND HIGH-DENSITY RESIDENTIAL RECYCLING PROGRAM
WHEREAS, Recycling is crucial to combating the imminent threat of climate change and the negative impacts non-recycled waste can have on the environment; recycling reduces both the amount of waste sent to landfills and the City's reliance on landfills, which are the third-greatest source of human-generated methane gas in the United States; and
WHEREAS, Methane gas is a powerful greenhouse gas that significantly contributes to climate change by absorbing the sun's heat and warming the atmosphere; the harms caused by climate change include air and water pollution, heat waves, and rising sea levels, all of which put human and animal lives at risk, and are most acutely felt by underprivileged communities; and
WHEREAS, Chicago's challenges with successful implementation of recycling programs have been long documented, beginning in the 1990s when the Blue Bag Recycling Initiative for low-density residential buildings suffered from low rates of participation, recycling bags that reportedly tore and spilled into Department of Streets and Sanitation (DSS) trucks, and an expensive and ineffective process for separating the recycled material from the garbage; and
WHEREAS, Effective on January 1, 1995, the Workplace and Residential Recycling Ordinance was the City's original ordinance aimed at implementing recycling programs in large buildings and required all building owners and property managers of commercial and high-density residential buildings to establish recycling programs and procure private hauling services; DSS reported that the ordinance lacked clarity and needed stronger enforcement provisions; and
WHEREAS, On January 1, 2017, the Workplace and Residential Recycling Ordinance was replaced by the Chicago Recycling Ordinance (the "...
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